Por Toda La Eternidad
by Shlane
Summary: AU sequal to Survival Instinct. After the events of Hunted Helen and Ashley turn to the Torchwood team for help in saving John.
1. Prologue

Title : Por Toda La Eternidad  
Author: Shlane  
Rating: 12A, PG-13, T  
Spoilers: Sanctuary Seasons 1 and 2 up to Haunted, Torchwood Season 1 and 2 (up to Out of the Rain), my story Survival Instinct.  
Summary: After the events of Hunted Helen and Ashley turn to the Torchwood team for help in saving John.  
NB: This is the sequal to my story survival instinct, you might want to read that first but if not then the main thing you need to know is Ashley is alive and well (she can teleport but doesn't have the other traits the Cabal created), she and Kate both work at the Sanctuary.

Disclaimer (applies to all future chapters): I do not own Sanctuary or Torchwood and am making no money from this.

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Prologue

Once again Ashley didn't know where else to go so she teleported to the one person she could think of. "Uncle Jack?" She called out as she appeared in the middle of the Hub.

It was early afternoon and the team were just preparing to call it a day when their visitor appeared in the middle of the Hub. It wasn't as surprising as it would otherwise as been, after all they each recognised the young blond woman a moment after she appeared. What did surprise them were the tears on the cheeks and the quiver in her voice as she called for her godfather.

In a second Jack had his arms wrapped around Ashley Magnus and was leading her towards to battered sofa, the rest of the team just stared. They knew Ashley well, they knew she was a strong woman who could take a lot of shit without flinching, what could have reduced her to tears?

"Uncle Jack, please come back with me, we need you." She begged.

"Has something happened to Helen?" Jack was very concerned, in her line of work and without his ability to come back from the dead it amazed Jack that Helen had reached the age she had.

"No it's dad, he's gone." She broke down again and Jack moved so that he was kneeling on the floor in front of her.

"Start at the beginning Ashley, go slowly." He advised.

"This might help." They both looked up to see Ianto offering Ashley a glass of water, she took it with a grateful if shaky smile and took a sip before she started speaking.

"He's been getting worse these last few months." Ashley told them, "Disappearing, sometimes for weeks at a time and never telling us where he had been. Mom thought he might be killing again and she was right. This morning he helped rescue a group of empaths from a sinking ship but later one said something to him and he snapped." Ashley had to take another sip of water before she could continue. "She slit her throat, just like in White Chapel. Henry, Kate and I found her in a cupboard."

"Just take several deep breaths Ashley." Jack told her, "You're safe here, Tosh get our EM shield up."

"Already done Jack." Came Tosh's response.

"That's not all." Ashley went on. "He tried to kill Mom, he had a knife and he was going to kill her too but she shot him with one of Henry's new guns, some sort of energy thing that stops the heart. She killed him and then she brought him back."

That didn't surprise Jack in the slightest everyone knew that Helen still loved John, except possibly John, she wouldn't want to loose him if she could possibly help it. "I understand Ashley."

"No you don't." Ashley insisted, "Something escaped from him, some sort of parasite, it got into the building and the computers, everywhere. It took over and cut us off from each other, trapping up. But my Dad was free, that thing had been infecting him for years, that's what drove his rage."

"I don't understand." Jack told her.

"Mom and Dad both thought it attached itself to him in the middle of the teleport, decades ago in London after they experimented with the source blood. That thing was why he became the Ripper."

"You're sure?" Ianto asked, he was still standing just behind Jack.

Ashley nodded, "The moment it got loose it started trying to kill everyone. But my dad was John Druitt again, more completely than he was after Tesla shocked him. I saw him Uncle Jack, I saw the man my mother fell in love with."

Jack knew that so far this story seemed far to happy to be the reason that Ashley had come to him in tears begging him for his help. After all since she was there it was evident that she had escaped the homicidal parasite. "What happened Ashley?" He prompted gently.

"We managed to get control of the building back, everything but the main lab, the thing was using the remote assist to create some sort of biotoxin to kill us all. Dad knew that the only way to stop it was to give it a host again, he said that after so long his body would be a perfect host for it." She chocked back another sob, "He teleported into the room with it and it jumped right back into him. When he woke up he wasn't my father anymore, not in any way. He was The Ripper again, just like when I first saw him. He teleported away before anyone could stop him, he said he had no destination in mind. I think, I think he might be dead." She had to choke back the sobs again. "He always told me to never teleport without a destination in mind."

"He sacrificed himself for you Ashley, no father could do any less for his daughter." Jack told her.

Ashley nodded through her tears, "I know, he loved me." She remembered the final moments before he'd teleported into the lab, when he'd kissed her forehead and whispered that he loved her. "Please come with me Jack, I've never seen Mom like this, she's cutting herself off from everyone."

"She did that the first time as well." Jack told her, "I wasn't there but James told me, after she tried to kill him that first time in London, she threw herself completely into her work."

"Please come with me?" Jack would never have refused his god-daughter anything but the sad lost look in her eyes was almost more than he could bear. All her life Ashley had wanted to know her father, when she finally did she had been horrified at what she had found. But now that she had seen, even for a few minutes, the man her father had once been, it was destroying her in a way that not even finding out he was Jack the Ripper had done.

"Of course I will come." Jack said holding out his hand and pulling Ashley into a hug when she took it. Then he turned back to his team, "I'll be back when I can." He promised them.

"Take as long as you need Jack." Gwen told him, "We'll be just fine."

"I'll have my phone with me, keep the EM shield up and be careful, that's The Ripper out there and he knows who you are."

"We'll be perfectly alright." Ianto said appearing at his side, holding his coat, already open and ready for him to slip on.

"Call me if anything comes up." He added as he pulled on his coat.

"We can manage very well without you Jack, we have before." Ianto reminded him and his comments was seconded by the rest of the team. "Now go, Tosh has already deactivated the EM shield and she'll put it back up the moment you've gone. We will take even greater care than usual when we're out and about."

Jack nodded, "Alright I get it, you can take care of yourselves." He turned to Ashley. "Take me to Helen."

Ashley took hold of Jack with one hand and pulled out her cell phone with the other, she hit a speed dial. "Henry it's me, we're coming in, drop the shield." She received an affirmative before she teleported them both to her mother's Sanctuary.

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AN: So here we are, I'm back from Peru and the first chapter of a new Sanctuary/Torchwood crossover is up, updates will proabbaly be weekly. Oh and thanks to Di-Bee for what was possibly the longest review I have ever had, as promised here's the start of the new story hope you like it


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Ashley took them to the main entrance hall of the Sanctuary, waiting for them was Will, Henry, the Big Guy and another woman with dark hair and eyes that Jack assumed was the Kate Freelander he'd heard mentioned several times.

"Thank God you're here man." Henry said when they appeared, "The boss has gone crazy." He held up the remains of what looked like a portable radio.

"What happened?" Ashley asked.

"Magnus objected when the station she was listening to played 'My Heart Will Go On' and decided to turn it off by throwing it into a wall."

Jack winced, "Where is she now?"

"The Library." The Big Guy told him in a tone that indicated he was greatly concerned for the books.

"What's she doing in there?" Jack asked as he started heading that way with the rest trailing after him.

"Looked like research." Will said.

"And after the radio none of you wanted to interrupt." Jack surmised as they hurried through the hallways.

"Damned right we didn't." Kate told him, "We thought we'd wait for the immortal."

"Just please tell me she isn't armed?" Jack pleaded as they reached the library, the last thing he needed was to be shot. Again. It was rather painful, and repetitive.

"We all are." Will told him, "Magnus's orders." Jack took a slow look around and noticed that the Big Guy was the only one without a side arm and he hardly needed one. "Even with our EM shield up she doesn't want to take any chances."

Jack nodded, took a deep breath and pushed open the door, "Thank you but whatever it is I'm afraid I don't have the time at the moment." Helen was sitting with her back to him, the desk she was at was covered in books of various thicknesses and ages. As she spoke she slammed the book she had been looking through closed and shoved it to one side before picking up the next one.

"Not even for me?"

Helen straightened and turned, "Jack." She said softly, "What are you doing here?"

"Ashley came to me, she told me what happened." Jack explained as he walked towards her.

"She shouldn't have done." Helen said turning back to her work, "I ordered them all to remain inside the EM shield, it's safe here."

"She was very careful, phoning ahead so that the shield was only down for a few moments when she brought me back." Jack assured her, "Our shield is up as well now and my team is on alert. Now how are you Helen?"

"I'm alright Jack really, just very busy."

Jack shook his head as she walked over to one of the shelves and started search for another book. "Of course you are Helen, that's why all your staff are out in the hall worried about you, why your daughter risked leaving the EM shield even knowing what her father has become. And why you haven slept, eaten or even stopped since he left."

"How did you know?" Helen asked turning again to look at Jack.

"You just told me." Jack said with a grin and Helen groaned at falling for one of the oldest tricked. "And Will told me what you were like after Ashley. James also told me how you threw yourself into your work after John left for the first time."

She looked up at him and he could clearly see the tears in her eyes. "He was John again, for a few minutes he was the man I fell in love with, there was no trace of the monster he became. It was like the last century never happened, he loved me."

Jack saw that she was struggling to maintain her composure and pulled Helen into his arms, stroking her hair as she lay her head against his chest, "You haven't cried for him yet have you?"He asked but he didn't bother waiting for an answer, "There is nothing wrong with crying Helen, you've had so many shocks today and you've lost the man you love, again. There's no shame in crying for this."

Helen let go of the control she had been holding onto by a fragile thread, her pride wouldn't allow her to cry in front of her team and her daughter needed her to be strong. But with Jack, one of her oldest friends, she could allow the mask to fall away and be the woman who had just lost the man she loved.

Jack held her as she cried, eventually sinking down to the floor and pulling her so that she was sitting side ways across his knee with her head against his shoulder and both his arms around her. He didn't say anything while he held her, knowing that wasn't what she needed. When her sobs had finally stopped Jack offered his his handkerchief to dry her eyes.

"Thank you Jack." She said, then noticed that the corner of the handkerchief was embroidered with the letters CJH and a pair of Airforce wings, even though it was white thread on white cotton it was still easy to see.

"If it ever gets out." Jack said warningly.

"You're secret is safe with me Jack." Helen assured him, "If you never tell that I cried."

"I won't." Jack promised in return. "A lady friend of mine embroidered it for me during the Second World War." Easing Helen off his lap Jack climbed to his feet and then helped her up, "So what were you researching?"

"A way to save John." She said turning back to the shelves she had been looking through, "There has to be a way to get that thing out of him and contain it."

Jack wasn't quite sure how to broach the subject so he just went for the blunt approach, "Ashley thinks he might be dead, she said he jumped without a destination in mind." What little Jack knew about teleporting tended to relate to the technological version but even he knew how dangerous it was to jump without accurate and absolutely certain coordinates.

"That's what he said before he left." Helen admitted, "But I know John better than anyone, in an emergency he can jump with no fixed destination in mind and still land safe. He's done it twice that I know of, both times I was trying to stop him, kill him." She had to take a deep breath again, "I think his subconscious guides him even when he doesn't know where he's going. Like when Ashley teleported through the EM shield."

"She had no plan to go anywhere." Jack said, following where Helen was going., "She didn't think she'd survive so she didn't bother with a destination, but her subconscious brought her to me. You think the same happened to John?"

Helen nodded, "Yes. Besides I don't think that thing," And the way she said it made it sound like an obscenity, "Would allow him to die, not as long as it had no other host."

"You may be right there Helen." Jack concluded, "So what have you come up with so far?"

"Not much because as far as I can tell no one has ever come across one of these parasites before. My theory is that it latched onto John mid-teleport and became a part of him as he reformed at his destination."

"A good theory." Jack agreed, "So what is needed is some way to remove the creature from John and contain it."

"Or kill it without killing John." Jack was shocked to hear the venom Helen put into her words, but he supposed that the creature had taken her fiancé from her and more, if it was truly the reason that John Druitt became Jack the Ripper then it was responsible for hundreds of deaths over the intervening decades. Though Jack wasn't about to blame it for the Cabal death, they needed killing, he suspected that those might have been what allowed the creature to begin re-establishing it's hold over the man.

"We'll also need to find a way to detect it while it's in a host body," Jack continued having decided that ignoring Helen's blood thirsty comment was the best option, "Otherwise this could all happen to John again, or worse one of these things could attach itself to Ashley."

"Yes." Helen agreed, "It is unlikely that we are lucky enough for this creature to be one of a kind, but the scans I did of John never indicated the presence of a parasite. Of course I now see that the problem there is that I never had an uninfected measurement to use as a base line so it would be impossible to know what deviations from the norm are due to his Abnormality and what are due to the parasite, even using Ashley's readings as a baseline wouldn't work because we don't know what effect any abnormalities she inherited from me. Though I suppose that if I used a combination of my scans and hers, using mine to eliminate."

Jack knew that Helen had stopped talking to him some time ago and was now just thinking aloud,but he still decided to interrupt her. "Err Helen darling? I can't understand more than one word in three. So why don't you stop, take a deep breath and relax for a moment."

"No Jack I think I might be on to something."

"Yes you might be however if you pass out from exhaustion or a lack of food you won't be any use to anyone." Jack told her firmly deciding to take control of the situation. Their old friend James Watson had once warned him about Helen's obsessive nature, especially when it came to matters close to her heart. Whether saving some one she loved or avoiding a painful subject. Sometimes she needed someone to ground her and take control. "So what you are going to do is go out there and reassure your staff that you are fine. You are going to sit and eat something, comfort your daughter, let her know that you still think there is hope for him. She came to me in tears.

"And while you do all of that, I am going to call my team and have them prepare and pack everything that they need to help us in this. Then I will ask Ashley to bring them here and together we will find a way to capture John, take that thing out of him and bring him home to you."

"For all eternity." Helen said with a soft smile.

Ashley kept her mother company in her office while the Big Guy reheated the left over take away dinner that the team had had delivered the previous night, Ashley was feeling somewhat hobbit-ish and decided to have a second breakfast. Mother and daughter then engaged in a familiar argument about whether or not a large triple chocolate chip muffin would really be considered a breakfast item.

"Mom, do you really think he survived?" Ashley asked at last. "He always told me to make sure I had a destination in mind."

"I am certain he did." Helen told her, "When you teleported within the EM shield did you have a destination in mind?"

Ashley shook her head, "I knew it would kill me so I didn't bother thinking of where I was going, I just jumped." Her eyes widened in sudden understanding.

"Exactly." Helen said with a smile, "Your instincts guided you to safety, just as I'm sure John's did for him. And that creature wouldn't allow him to die, it's given him great resistance to weapons and drugs."

Ashley nodded remembering her own fight with her father when they had first met nearly two years ago now, it seemed to recent and yet a life time ago.

Meanwhile Jack commandeered the rest of the staff, sending Will and Kate to set up guest rooms for the team and to see that the main lab was usable while he discussed with Henry exactly what the creature had done while it was in control of the building.

Next Jack called Ianto, it turned out the team had not gone home but instead waited around the Hub. They had all grown fond of the Sanctuary team and especially Jack's god-daughter, they were worried about what had happened and wanted to wait for news, hoping there was something they could do to help.

Tosh put the call on the Hub speakers and Jack quickly brought his team up to speed on the facts, as best he could given the general lack of understanding about the creature that had possessed John Druitt. What could be easily understood was the effect of the creature, Henry had shown him footage from the security cameras. Before John Druitt was a man telling Helen that he loved her, kissing his daughter goodbye. Afterwards he was a raging snarling animal, though he had managed to fight it back long enough to tell Helen and Ashley that he had no idea where he was going. He'd fought against the creature, just has he had for years, from what Jack had been able to determine the parasite would have killed far more than Druitt had and the only reason for that would have to be that John had been holding the creature back.

When everything was set up and his team ended the call so they could collect whatever they thought they might need, Jack went to Helen's office where she and Ashley were just finishing their meal. "My team are preparing, they'll call once they are ready. If we can impose on you?"

Ashley nodded, "At least one good thing has come out of all of this, we know that it's not the teleportation that causes insanity."

"That must be reassuring." Jack told her, she nodded. "You might as well have this." He continued throwing his phone to Ashley, "They'll be calling once they're ready and that saves me having to find you. A word of warning though, they made have quite a lot with them since I told them to bring whatever tech they think might help."

"That's alright." Ashley told him. "I've been working on my abilities, you know practising taking the reference from pictures or maps. Dad was helping me."

Jack could once again hear the tears in her voice, over the months since she had been freed from Cabal control she had become close to her father as he taught her how to use her new abilities. They had forged a true father-daughter relationship. The fact that he had been able to hide his escalating madness and killing from her as well as Helen was a testament to his intelligence and cunning.

"We'll get him back for you Ashley." Jack promised, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks uncle Jack."

"I wish James was still here." Helen said suddenly, "And Nigel too, but most of all James. It would be such a joy to him to know that he hadn't misjudged John so badly."

"Yes it would." Jack agreed. He wanted to make this right for them, Helen was closer to him than any family he had ever had. Helen was like the sister he'd always wanted while he was growing up, though obviously far too intelligent to actually be a blood relative. Though he supposed she could easily be an ancestor. That was something he tried not to think about when living in the past, relative to the time of his birth, any one could be an ancestor. Even Ianto and that was something he definitely didn't want to think about.

Three hours later and Helen, Henry, Tosh and Owen were gathered around the table in the centre of the main lab trying to concoct some sort of plan to save Druitt, Ianto found himself drafted in because of his knowledge of the technology in all the Torchwood Archives, not just the Cardiff branch. Gwen was working with Will, combining Torchwood's international contacts, which tended to be within law enforcement and governments, with the Sanctuary's contacts, which were mainly within the global Abnormal community. Together they were attempting to find Druitt, to find out if he was even still alive.

Meanwhile Jack was recruited by the Big Guy, along with Ashley and Kate, to help keep the Sanctuary working while most of the staff were busy working on the Druitt problem. Actually Jack's job was more to keep Ashley occupied while the Big Guy and Kate ran the Sanctuary.

Ashley was as upset about what had happened to John as her mother was but unlike Helen she couldn't do anything to help at this point. Of course later she would be very important for tracking and capturing her father, but that was scant comfort to her now when she needed to do something, when she had so much excess energy and nothing to channel it into.

Eventually he followed the advice of the Big Guy and his own experience by hauling Ashley down to the firing range and letting her take out some of her frustration on the targets.

They had been working in the main lab for hours and still weren't any closer to a solution. "This might be hopeless." Tosh said in a low voice when Magnus stepped out for a few minuets to retrieve a report.

"There's always a few that you just can't save." Owen agreed, "No matter how good a doctor you are that are always still some." He added thinking of his late fiancée and the alien in her brain that had killed her.

"She'll never accept that." Ianto said, "No matter what he becomes or what he does she will never give up on finding a way to save him. Because she loves him and now she knows that the man she fell in love with still exists in side of him she won't stop until one or both of them are dead."

"Sounds like you speak from experience man." Henry said.

"I do." The name 'Lisa' hung unsaid in the air between the Torchwood team while Henry just looks slightly confused, "But lets hope this has a happier ending. We've already proved that the parasite can be pulled out."

"Maybe it wasn't taken out." Owen suggested.

"Excuse me?" Helen had just walked back into the room, the report still in her hand.

"Well think about." Owen explained, "You said that the parasite was sentient and even showed intelligence."

"That nerve gas was more than intelligent." Henry commented.

"Right." Owen agreed, "So we have to assume that it has all the basic drives that a corporal creature has."

"Survival." Helen said suddenly, "Of course, every creature is concerned first and foremost with it's own survival, that's the whole point of the fight or flight response, the animal chooses the course that is most likely to result in its survival. Even when parents sacrifice themselves for their children its still about the survival of their shared genetics, that's the basis of Dawkin's Selfish Gene theory." She saw that she had lost the four people sitting around the table, "It doesn't matter, the point is that Owen is right. If a parasite's host is dead it will seek out another."

"The sanctuary building was a second rate host." Owen agreed, "Not as good as Druitt, since his body would be adapted to support it after so many years, but better than having no host at all."

"And that's why it returned to Druitt when it had the chance." Ianto said, proving that he at least was following, the two computer techs were looking slightly confused, both were used to dealing with computer viruses and parasitic programs, not biology. "Its optimum host became available again and when it sensed that it returned to him."

"So what we need to do is get it to leave him again but this time into something we can hold it in, and it can't use to kill us." Henry said.

"And we need some way to contain it within whatever we trap it." Tosh said, "We can't risk it escaping again."

"We need some way to detect it while its still in its host." Helen also said, "Otherwise John or Ashley could easily become infected again and we wouldn't know it until it was too late and someone was dead. It's too risky to wait until the psychological symptoms begin to manifest and there's no guarantee that the host would tell us if they knew something was wrong."

"That should be easy." Tosh said, "Run a complete scan of Druitt before and after the parasite is removed and then compare them, any difference will be due to the parasite."

"Excellent Toshiko." Helen said, "I wonder that I didn't think of that sooner. Alright so the first thing to do is devise a way to contain the parasite."

"It seemed to be perfectly at home in the computer systems." Henry pointed out, "Perhaps we can build it one of its own."

Owen scanned over the tablet in front of him, "It does seem to be an energy based lifeform which would explain how it was able to latch on to Druitt in the middle of a teleport, when he is pure energy."

"It could be electrical based," Tosh suggested, "Nature is full of electricity, look at lighting. And I detected a slight electrical signature at the site of one of Druitt's teleport. The human body produces a small amount of electricity right?" She looked to the two doctors.

"She's right." Helen said, "And when it jumped out of John it went though the defibrillator I was using to restart his heart."

"So it needed a bridge or conduit of some sort." Ianto said, "Did it to get back into him?"

Helen shook her head, she'd reviewed the security footage from the main lab. "No, possibly because he is such an ideal host or simply because it was stronger then, we don't know what effect John's death had on it. So we will need something to contain it."

"An EM shield." Henry said suddenly, "I know that we mostly use them to contain teleporters but the other use is to protect systems from outside influence, at least that's what you once told me ours was far." Helen had the grace to look slightly embarrassed.

"That shield would have to be outside the system." Tosh said, "Or it would be able to gain control of it. Something like the Endor shield?" She suggested.

"Oh you are good." Henry said, then saw the look of confusion on Helen's face, "Star Wars? Return of the Jedi? The shield generator for the Death Star was outside the shield itself, that how the Alliance won." Seeing that Helen still wasn't completely sure what he was going on about. "Anyway." He pulled up a drawing program on his tablet and sketched. "If we build an EM generator and a way to project it so that it encompass the cage." He showed the drawing to Helen.

"Ah that would work, but you would need a guaranteed power source." A thought came to her. "Geothermal energy, that should provided enough power and last near indefinitely."

"As for the cage itself." Tosh said, "If we build a stand alone computer system then fill it full of programs that look like security programs then the parasite will spend years breaking through them all. In fact, if we build three interlinked units then once it breaks through the programs on one it can move on to the next. By putting a hidden repair and rewrite program into each unit we can have it repair itself as soon as the parasite moves on. So it'll spend forever going in a circle but if it is intelligent then at least it'll never get bored."

"That's brilliant Tosh." Henry agreed, "And if we need to be can disconnect a unit for repairs, modifications or upgrades."

"I could even write a program that would let it think it was really killing people but in reality it was playing Call of Duty or something like that." Tosh said, the excitement and anticipation of a challenge flashing in her dark eyes.

"She can really do all that?" Helen asked Ianto and Owen as Tosh and Henry put their heads together and started sketching out designs for their containment system.

"Without even thinking about it, Tosh can take blueprints that don't work and make a device that does." Ianto told Helen, he'd read her file when he'd first joined Torchwood and that little trick had landed Tosh in a UNIT prison with no hope of release until Jack had found her.

"She could take over the world and none of use would be the wiser until it was done and we were proclaiming her Queen of the World." Owen said with great pride in his college. "Now we need to find a way to remove the parasite in the first place."

* * *

AN: It's so nice to see some familar names in the reviews, since I was near internet today I decided to be nice and give you a chapter!

As some people guessed the title is a reflection of my time in Peru, it's the closest my Spanish (the language of Peru) comes to translating 'for all eternity'

Please leave a review


	3. Chapter 2

"What have we got so far?" Will asked. Gwen had set up the remote link to the Torchwood mainframe in Magnus's office. A mainframe with links to every police or government database on Earth, curtsey of Tosh, and most of the people in charge of those databases didn't even know it. At times Torchwood terrified Will far more than any Abnormal did. Even Druitt. The worse Jack the Ripper could do was kill him, Torchwood could make it look like he died in a mob hit after double crossing them, or simply make it as though he had never existed.

"A really depressing number of homicides." Gwen said with a sigh.

"Well there's some we can rule out." Will said, "Although I'm sure there's something that sets him off in every case, to us they are going to look like random acts of violence, so eliminate anything with an obvious motive including robbery. The guy can teleport right into a bank vault if he wants to, he'd have no need to kill for a few buck in someone's wallet."

"I think it's fairly safe to say domestic incidents are out as well." Gwen said as she typed. "What about gender?" Gwen wasn't overly knowledgeable about Jack the Ripper but she did know that he'd killed prostitutes

"Possibly." Will agreed, "His first murders were eight prostitutes in White Chapel."

"I thought it was five?"

"Five the police found and connected to him, the other three lacked the violence of those so they weren't connected." Will explained, Helen had told him that when he'd raised the same point with her just after he'd joined the Sanctuary. "However with the right motivation he will kill men too, he proved that with the Cabal. Can you flag any murders where the victim was a prostitute as high priority?"

"Of course." Gwen said.

"But rule out any with evidence of sexual contact." Will continued, "All evidence shows that although The Ripper targeted prostitutes there was never any sexual overtones to the kills."

"Right." Gwen said, "You seem to know an awful lot about this."

"When I was at college one of my classes was on criminal psychology and we profiled Jack the Ripper. After I found out about his connection to Ashley and Magnus I did some more research." Will explained, "There were quite a few suspects, including Druitt, however most modern experts dismiss him because his personality didn't match that of a man who would commit such crimes, he was a teacher."

"A teacher?" Gwen was surprised.

"Actually some experts think that he was simply gay."

"Are you serious?" Gwen asked looking up, "Is he?"

"I was hardly going to ask him." Will told her, he could just imagine how well that conversation would have gone even when Druitt was at the hight of his sanity. "However I did ask Magnus." He admitted, "She told me his family started the rumour after he told them of his engagement, apparently they didn't like or approve of her and hoped that the gossip would split them up."

"Makes Rhys's mother look nice."

"You're not supposed to like your in-laws." Will pointed out having spotted the ring on her finger and from the affection in her voice assumed that Rhys was her husband. "I'm sure it's an unwritten rule. I pity any man Ashley every brings home."

"So do I." Gwen said and then turned back to the screen, "So what next?"

Will looked over the list of unsolved murders. "Eliminate any that took place in the seven weeks before you found Ashley, we knew where he was during that time." A few more key strokes, the list was starting to look smaller. "We know that he likes to kill up close a personal so eliminate any that were killed from a distance and any gun shot victims. He prefers a blade, I know he still has the one he used in White Chapel and he used a small pocket knife on the Empath so highlight any cases where the weapon was a knife or sharp metal object."

A few more minutes of refining and they had managed to plot a series of locations around the world that was basically a trail of Druitt's movements over the few two months, the trail became more obvious over the last two months indicating an escalation in killings as Druitt lost what little control he'd had remaining from Tesla's shock treatment. They system was also set up to alert them the moment a new report was entered that matched their criteria. "Why do you think it does it?" Gwen wondered, "Why does it want to kill? The first thing it did once it was established was try to kill you so the impulse, the desire to kill must come from the parasite rather than the host."

"I don't think the building has quite that much of a grudge against us." Will agreed, "I don't know way it wants to kill so badly, but you're right, the first thing it did once it had explored its new environment was find a way to kill us."

"Jack has told us that there are creatures out there that want to wipe out all life because it is different." Gwen said. "But maybe this was all an accident." She suggest, "Maybe it accidentally attached itself to Druitt and been in a corporal form drove it insane."

"I don't think we'll ever know." Will admitted, "And even if it is true there is nothing we can do to help it, not as long as it's trying to kill us. The best we can do is humane containment."

"That's only because we can't work out how to kill it."

"Yes." Will admitted, "It would be safer to kill it, even though Magnus only likes to do that as a last resort, I'm certain that Ashley would happily pull the trigger." He looked back at the screen, "Now we wait."

"Yes." Gwen agreed, "I hate this part." With nothing else to do the pair of them relaxed in Magnus's office and talked. Gwen was impressed at Will's accurate profiling of her team and got a good laugh out of his attempt to profile Jack, then advised him to just give up on that front, that it was probably even more difficult than trying to profile Magnus.

They traded what amounted to war stories. Will shared some of the Sanctuary's latest cases. Including the wannabe superhero and Magnus's more than slightly trippy way of exposing a mole in the organisation. The latter Gwen already knew a little about because Helen had sent Ashley to them for the duration, not that any of them, even Ashley herself, at the time knew why Helen was so insistent that she spend a week or two with her godfather.

Gwen told Will some of the more interesting, and creepy, aliens that they had encountered. At the lighter end of the spectrum there was the poacher who had been stealing sheep because they were a delicacy on his homeworld, they now had quite a good trading relationship established with him. At the opposite end of the scale were the Night Travellers, who Gwen would be perfectly happy to never see again.

"How'd it going?" Jack asked when he walked into the office an hour later, he left Ashley with Kate so the two of them could go over the containment of some or other Abnormal.

"Pretty good Jack." Gwen told him. "We managed to narrow down a very long list to just a few possibilities." She pointed to the screen, "We think Druitt has been responsible for these over the past few months."

"We used a combination of the circumstances of the death, the killer's MO and the victims life." Will explained, "We also have the system set to alert us if there's another kill that fits the profile. If we can get to the site of the murder fast enough then Ashley can track his teleport. They found out while he was teaching her. Of course he can do the same."

"And if he knows about it he might be taking pains to hide himself." Jack finished. "Well the group in the lab have come up with a working containment plan. And a way to get it out of Druitt, though Helen is really not happy about it."

"Why?"

"She didn't like killing him last time when her life was in danger, she's even less happy about it this time." Jack explained.

"Isn't there another way?" Will asked.

"Not according to Helen or Owen." Jack told them, "As Helen explained it, Druitt is such a perfect host that nothing short of death would cause the parasite to abandon him." Jack waved his hand as if to say 'they're the experts not me.' "Anyway Helen and Owen are working on the details of that. I'm sending Ianto with Ashley to Cardiff for some supplies."

"Please tell me that includes his coffee." Gwen pleaded, it had been several hours since she'd had her last fix and she was starting to feel it, she was sure the others were as well, they were all addicted to Ianto's coffee. The only downside to her honeymoon, unlike the many issues with her wedding, had been that she suffered from withdrawal symptoms.

"It will." Jack assured her, "They're collecting technology that maybe useful in containing the parasite. Anything you need picking up?"

"No I have everything, but get him to call Rhys while he's there. Let him know I'm likely to be gone a while."

Ianto and Ashley arrived just outside the tourist office. Since they had left the EM shield up, as a precaution, it was impossible to teleport inside the base itself. Ianto unlocked the door and then led her though the secret entrance. "So what are we looking for?" Ashley asked as they took the lift down to the main level of the Hub.

"Tosh sent a list." Ianto told her folding up a piece of paper, "Most of it will be in our Archives but a few items we'll need to get from London." He pulled out a map and photo. "I have the location for you."

"Thanks."

"How are you with filing and archiving systems?"

"Well I mastered mom's version of the Dewey Decimal system." Ashley admitted.

"Good, I use a modified system here." They walked through the main part of the Hub and into the Archive, "Be careful down here." Ianto warned, "We do regular scans but sometimes things slip through so you never know exactly what might be down here."

"Thanks for the warning." Ashley muttered. For the next hour she and Ianto hunted through the Archives for the items that Tosh and Owen had requested. Most were easy to find but some seemed to have disappeared and others were found in sections that had nothing to do with them. Like the scanner that was found in the section for alien music items.

Once they had everything assembled into two large cardboard boxes they headed back up to the surface and Ashley used the photo and map Ianto showed her to teleport them to the London Archives. "This was an off-site storage facility used by Torchwood One." Ianto explained as he entered his pass-code. "They put anything deemed non-dangerous or useless here, the more interesting stuff was kept in the Tower."

"Which burnt." Ashley said, "We watched it on the news, mom was worried that uncle Jack had been caught up in it."

"No he wasn't the one caught up." Ianto told her, "He was in Cardiff and kept his team safe." After Ianto had passed the fingerprint recognition the door swung open. "UNIT took control of the Tower and the off site Archives, we're just lucky no one thought to change the locks."

"I thought everyone died." Ashley said, suddenly realising that Ianto must have been at the Tower.

"Twenty-seven of us survived the assault on the Tower." Ianto told her as he closed the door behind them and flipped the lights on, illuminating the large warehouse. "Only a handful recovered to the point where they can be considered physically and mentally well. Several are suffering from long term breathing problems after their lungs were damaged in the fire. More have physical disabilities from their injuries and a few have been confined to mental institutions for their own well being."

"Only twenty-seven survived?" Ashley asked again, and she thought the death toll from the attacks she'd lead was bad. "From how many?"

"Over eight hundred. One has since died of complications from her injuries and six have committed suicide."

"Mom said that Torchwood would be its own downfall."

"She was right." Ianto said, as they talked they moved amongst the massive stacks of material looking for the few items they needed, "It's better now, under Jack I don't think it could happen again."

They worked in silence for a few minutes until Ashley suddenly called, "Hey Ianto, is this it?"

Ianto took a closer look and compared the label to his sheet of paper. "Excellent Ashley, that officially makes you better at this than Owen." He checked his list again. "And that is also the last item we need." He folded the paper and put it back in his pocket then headed towards the entrance where they had left the boxes from Cardiff. Adding their finds to the top, Ashley called Henry to deactivate the EM shield.

She took them straight to the main lab and then left immediately, she'd been banned by her mother since she kept getting under their feet. Tosh was on top of Ianto almost as soon as he appeared. She took one of the boxes from Ianto and placed it on the table before she stared unpacking it, explaining to Henry what each item was as she went.

"Did you get the medical stuff I asked for?" Owen asked.

"It's all in here." Ianto told him as he handed the second box to the medic. They spent half an hour sorting through everything that Ianto had brought from Cardiff, while he'd been looking for the specific items needed he'd spotted a couple of others that could be useful and added them to the box as well.

"I think this is yours Ianto." Owen said as he finished unpacking the second box box and found a carrier bag with bag of coffee and all the extras Ianto added to the team's coffee when he thought they deserved it.

Tosh leaned over to read the label on one of the coffee bags, "Ooh you brought the good stuff."

"I'll just put a pot on then shall I?"

"Yes." Answered Tosh and Henry.

"Tea for me please Ianto." Helen requested.

"Of course." Ianto told them as he exited the main lab and headed towards the kitchen. After having to asked for directions from a bipedal lizard, Ianto finally found the very well appointed kitchen. He wasn't surprised to find that there was a coffee machine but he was a lot less than impressed to find that it wasn't been well taken care of. Muttering a few choice words in Welsh about the IQ of people that couldn't even be trusted with a coffee machine, he cleaned it, which took over half an hour, and then set a pot brewing.

He continued to curse as he also set the water boiling for Helen's tea and arranged mugs for everyone else's coffee. "Ooh Welsh, someone's in trouble." Ianto turned around to see Jack and Ashley standing in the doorway of the kitchen, "He only curses in Welsh when he's really mad." Jack muttered in an aside to Ashley then continued to Ianto, "What is it this time?"

"Idiot yanks that don't know how to take proper care of a coffee machine despite been famous the world over for drinking it." Ianto complained as he used the proper tea leaves that he'd found to make Helen's tea.

"Here." Ashley said having walked over and handed him a container, "The Big Guy drinks this."

"Thank you." Ianto told her, inside was a herbal tea though he wasn't sure of the exact blend. "Would you like the same as when you were in Cardiff?"

"If you can find enough in here for a caramel cappuccino." Ashley said, then grinned when Ianto pointed to the stuff he had set next to the mugs. "Ianto I'm holding you prisoner here."

Ianto smiled, "I thought you deserved it. Now if you have finished beating up my boyfriend." Ianto knew the Jack had been trying to keep Ashley distracted with weapon and hand-to-hand training. "You can tell me how Kate Freelander takes her coffee and then help me deliver them. And." He held up his hand before she could object, "Since we will be taking some to the main lab, you can ask if they've made any progress."

"Thanks Ianto," Ashley said with a soft smiled, "And Kate takes her coffee however it's put in front her her."

"Good to know." Ianto told her as he started to make the coffees. Ashley found a tray, and then a second one for her mother's tea service.

While they were assembling everything Kate and the Big Guy appeared, "So is this the famous Welsh coffee?" Kate asked. Of all the Sanctuary staff she was the only one who hadn't gone to Cardiff when Ashley was found and so she only had the stories of Ianto's coffee to go by. However considering that even Druitt, usually as much of a tea drinker as Magnus, had complimented it, she knew she would be in for something more than Starbucks.

"You bet." Ashley told her handing a cup to her friend. "Enjoy." She added as she handed the Big Guy his mug of herbal tea.

"Thank you." He said.

Kate took a sip of the coffee, "You're staying." She told Ianto.

Jack laughed, "Why does this happen every single time?"

"Seriously." Kate said, "Whatever he's offering I'm sure Magnus will double it."

"Salary wise perhaps," Ianto said as he handed Jack his coffee, industrial strength of course, "However there are additional perks to the job that I doubt Magnus would be prepared to offer even if she was my type. And I suspect Druitt would also object."

"And me." Ashley muttered as she enjoyed her caramel cappuccino

"Oh God." Kate complained, "Why are all the good ones taken or gay?"

"Or both." Ashley laughed, "Oh come on I know you have a thing for Will."

"You promised." Kate hissed at her.

Ashley grinned, "Come on Ianto, I don't know about your people but Henry gets cranky without his coffee, especially when he's trying to make something." Ashley picked up her mother's tea service and left the tray full of coffee for Ianto to carry.

"At least she's laughing." Jack commented after Ianto and Ashley had left.

"How's Helen doing?" The Big Guy asked.

Jack thought for a moment, "She seems alright, as long as she has something to focus on, some hope."

"But if she looses that." The Big Guy said thoughtfully

"Yes, if she looses that I don't know how she'll be. I think it might almost have been easier if he'd died, if she'd never known about the parasite." Jack said, "At least then she'd still have her anger at his betrayal to off set the pain of his loss."

"Hey guys, seriously lighten up." Both of the men looked over, slightly surprised to see that Kate was still there. "This is Helen Magnus we're talking about, she created the Sanctuary network and brought down the Cabal, she's not going to let some parasite stop her." She swept past them and out into the corridor, still cradling her coffee.

Jack and the Big Guy looked at each other and shrugged, they had to admit she had a point.

* * *

AN: Hope you all enjoyed, please review


	4. Chapter 3

AN: Sorry for the delay in updating, it was due to an unfortunate incident involving so drunken idiots, me and my laptop and a wall. Suffice to say my screen took less time to fix then my side did to heal (thanks to my stepdad for that quick save) but it meant I couldn't get this out as planned. Again sorry and hope you enjoy

* * *

Ianto and Ashley started by heading to Magnus's office where Will and Gwen were still monitoring their computer program since there was nothing else for them to do.

"Thanks love." Gwen said as Ianto handed her mug to her. She took a sip, "You brought the good stuff."

"I thought we might need it." Ianto told her as he handed Will his.

"Any news?" Ashley asked.

"Not yet." Will told her, Gwen would have been inclined to try and hide the truth from her but Will knew better than to even try. "We've traced several murders over the last few months that fit the profile and the computer is monitoring all the police networks, if something comes in you'll be the first to know." Then seeking to distract her a little he added, "And the Torchwood network is scary. Seriously I thought what we had here with hacking into the local police network was scary but this is something else. That Tosh has created backdoors and monitoring programs in most of the police computer systems on earth

"I told you she was good." Ianto said as he left, Ashley following behind him but she seemed a little happier that they were doing something to track her father. They walked into the main lab and were surprised at the amount of activity, Helen and Owen were working on something or other while Tosh and Henry were surrounded by more computer components than either Ashley or Ianto had ever seen in one place.

Ianto cleared his throat causing Tosh to look up, her face split into a wide grin when she spotted them, "Henry, coffee's here."

Henry's head shot up like lightening and caused Ashley to laugh, he reminded her of a dog that had just heard someone call dinner.

"Thank you darling." Helen said as Ashley set her tea tray down next to where her mother was working while Tosh and Henry took their coffees from Ianto's tray and Owen just looked on mournfully Ianto took the final coffee from the tray and the set the tray on the floor, leaning against the side of the work bench.

"How's it going?" Ashley asked anxiously.

"We have a working theory." Helen told her. "Owen and I are working on a way to remove the parasite and Henry and Tosh are working on a way to contain it."

"We're making a virtual world where it can kill and destroy to it's hearts content." Henry said.

"The idea is that if it thinks that our virtual world is the real world then it'll never try to escape."Tosh explained

"Now the only problem is capturing John." Helen said, she didn't want to tell her daughter exactly what method they would be using to remove the parasite. "He's proved remarkably resistant to tazers and sedatives, possibly as a side effect of the creature."

"The universal sedative that we use." Ianto suggested, "We've never yet found anything that it can't sedate, even pterodactyls"

"Good idea Ianto," Owen agreed, "Only it takes a few seconds to kick in, he could teleport in that time and I know Ashley could track him but I'd really prefer he didn't teleport while a sedative is affecting him, he might end up somewhere he didn't intend to."

"What about a small EM device?" Tosh suggested. "If we put the sedative in a dart then we can also attach a small EM generator, it'll stop him teleporting for the few seconds it'll take him to fall unconscious Then we deactivate the EM field and Ashley can teleport him back here."

"Can we keep her too boss?" Henry asked, "That's brilliant and I've got just the thing." He disappeared back to his workspace just off the main lab and after a few minuets he returned with a small device. "I started working on this after Druitt showed up the first time but by the time I'd made it work he was on our side so I tossed it in a box in case we ever needed it."

"This is perfect." Tosh said taking it from him, "It's small enough that it can be attached to the dart, what's the range?"

"Not much." Henry admitted, "About six feet at most, because it's so small."

"It doesn't need to be strong." Helen said, "Well done Henry."

"So that's capture taken care of." Owen said, "Now we just need to finish removal and containment." With that said everyone returned to their tasks and Ianto took his turn to distract Ashley by asking her to show him around the Sanctuary. He was intrigued by many of the residents, though he disliked the Nubbins, they reminded him far too much of a furby which had been all the rage when he was still in high school and had annoyed him no end.

Ashley knew that everyone was trying to keep her distracted and while she appreciated the effort it was pointless. She couldn't stop thinking about her father, in those final minutes before he teleported into the lab.

Growing up she'd always felt she was missing out on something without a father. Every Father's day when her school class would make cards the teacher would ask her why she wasn't, then they'd suggest that she send it to an uncle or grandfather instead. Most seemed at a loss for what to do when she told them she didn't have those either, one had even called her mother, thinking that Ashley was just been difficult.

Eventually, by the time she was eight, they'd stopped pushing and while the other kids made their cards they allowed Ashley to draw. Her teachers always thought that Ashley had a fantastic imagination with the pictures she drew and later the stories she wrote. What they never knew was that she was just drawing and writing what she saw everyday.

It was the little things she'd missed most growing up with just her mother. When her class were asked what their fathers did for a living she was the odd one out again. She was always the odd child, the one who's mother did something most of the teachers couldn't pronounce and who's father had died before she was even born. She'd hated that, been different.

But at the same time she'd liked it. Her mother was also her best friend, though she now had Kate as well, and they'd never argued like the other girls said they did with their parents. She'd seen more of the world by the time she was fifteen then most of her peers would in their lifetimes. Every summer she'd spend a month in London with Uncle James and Uncle Jack would usually visit her several times though he never allowed her to join him in Cardiff. The rest of the summer would be spent travelling to the other Sanctuaries, familiarising herself with each of them, making her ready for the future that was already laid out before her.

Her mother had never pushed or forced her into working for the Sanctuary but for Ashley there had never been any choice. Though her mother hadn't intended it, Ashley didn't know any other life and couldn't imagine doing something else. The Sanctuary was her life and her family just as it was for her mother.

Now though she'd had a glimpse of what her real family could have been. Seeing her parents she could imagine what they would have been like when they met. Her mother never knew that she'd found the picture of John Druitt that she kept in the back of a draw. He looked so different that when she'd seen him in the flesh for the first time she hadn't recognised him. I wasn't until he'd kidnapped her while her mother was in Rome that she'd connected him to the picture.

Her mother had never hidden from Ashley that she had kept her embryo in stasis for almost a century, as soon as she had been old enough to understand Helen had even shown her the device that she and James had devised to keep Ashley safe. And she'd explained why, though Ashley would later learn it wasn't the whole truth. Helen had told her that she was conceived out of wedlock, that her father had been her fiancé but he was killed before they could marry. The pain of his loss coupled with the attitudes of the time had caused Helen to freeze Ashley until times changed enough for them both to avoid the stigma of illegitimacy.

Now she'd had a glimpse of what that life could have been like, a mother and father who loved each other and her. If it wasn't for that creature she would have grown up in her mother's time but she would still have worked within the Sanctuary. She might even have had siblings, she'd wanted that growing up even having Henry there wasn't quite the same.

Just seeing them had given her a glimpse of the life she could have in the now, her father was free of the rage that had consumed him and her mother clearly still loved him. That was lost now. Stolen in a moment of self-sacrifice that said more about who her father truly was than anything else could have. Since Tesla's shock had sent the creature dormant for a time she knew that he hated what he had done, who he had become. Becoming that monster again was far harder for him than dying to save them would have been.

Been within the building had allowed the creature to strengthen itself, that had been evident in the way he had snarled at the when he first came to. He'd fought the creature back but Ashley knew that he wouldn't be able to hold it at bay for long, it thirsted for blood and it would not be denied All John Druitt could do was see that the monster wasn't fed with the blood of those he loved.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Ashley had almost forgotten the Welsh man walking beside her.

"Not worth it." Ashley said, "Just thinking about my father and what could have been."

"That's never a good game to play with yourself." Ianto told her, "What happened has happened and all we can change is the future. Why don't you tell me about him? It might help."

"You know about him." Ashley said.

"I know about the Ripper and the man they suspected." Ianto told her, "I do not know about your father."

Ashley steered him into tone of the many parlours and sitting rooms that were dotted around the Sanctuary. They both sat down in a pair of chairs by one of the windows. "I like to pretend I can't remember much while I was with the Cabal but I can, I can remember ever attack on the Sanctuaries. In London he was waiting in the library, there were two others with me, we tried to kill him. He still has faint scars from my nails." She took a deep breath, "He stabbed me with one of his short swords, it didn't kill me because of the vampire healing but I could see in his eyes that he didn't want to hurt me. The shock of it pushed the Cabal control away for a moment and I was free for a second. I think stabbing me hurt him more than it did me."

"Druitt loves you Ashley." Ianto said confidently, "Even with the parasite in him he loves you. Never doubt that. Somewhere in there is the man who is your father, we know he's survived all this time as host to the creature. That is a credit to him, there are few who could hold out for long without loosing themselves to the evil within."

"You speak from experience, don't you?" Ashley asked, when Ianto nodded she continued, "Who did you loose?"

"My girlfriend." Ianto said, "Her name was Lisa, we both worked at Canary Wharf. During the battle she was partly converted into a Cyberman. But only partly. I got her out of the Tower and to Cardiff. I stalked Jack until he gave me a job and then hid her in the basement. I tried to save her. But unlike your father Lisa couldn't holdout against the evil of the cyber programming, once I managed to free her from the conversion unit I'd used to keep her alive she tried to kill us all and restart the invasion."

"What happened?"

"The team killed her." Ianto shook his head, "No I can't call it killing, euthanased her. It wasn't Lisa anymore and it never could be but I couldn't kill her."

"I don't think I can kill him either, not now I know it's not his fault."

"Then don't try." Ianto advised, "You can use the dart gun. Just don't hate Jack if he has to kill him."

"I won't, did you? After Lisa?"

"I swore to watch him suffer and die." Ianto admitted, "In the heat of the moment, but later once I'd calmed down I realised that he had only done what I couldn't."

"I'll try not to hate him, I know it'll be a last resort." Ashley assured him as little as she wanted her uncle to kill her father she knew that it would probably be what he wanted rather than risking hurting her or her mother again.

"Do you know what really annoys Jack?" Ianto said changing the topic.

"What?" Ashley asked.

"Talk in another language, preferably one he doesn't speak." Ianto grinned, "It always drives him crazy, it doesn't matter what you're saying but he'll be convinced it's about him."

"That sounds about right." Ashley agreed.

"Tosh and I do it all the time." Ianto told her, "Even muttering under your breath in another language will get him worried."

"You do it with Welsh?"

"Well that does seem to have a slightly different effect on Jack." Ianto gave Ashley a smirk that made her giggle since she was left in no doubt what that effect was, "But Tosh and I use Japanese."

"Is that why Uncle James liked to mutter in Latin when he was annoyed with Jack?"

"Probably." Ianto said, "I even did it with Kingonese on day, I just memorised some from an episode and muttered it when ever I picked up his paperwork for filing, he ended up asking Tosh what he'd done this time. The rest of the team could hardly keep a straight face."

Ashley laughed, "Teach me some stuff."

"Alright, I assume James Watson taught you Latin."

"Some and so did mom."

"Alright then, we'll start with Welsh and the other Gaelic languages since Jack can't tell the difference" Ianto told her, "Cach."

"Cach." Ashley repeated, "What does it mean?"

"Shit. Thought I think Jack's picking up on that one." Ianto admitted. Then he rattled off a long phrase.

"And that?" Ashley asked.

"It's actually Irish and is a line from a song, but if you sound annoyed enough it really doesn't matter." Ianto told her. Ashley smiled and tried to repeat the line. It took her a few tries before she got it and then they moved on to another line. After she got a few in the Celtic languages, they moved on to Russian, and through some of the other obscure languages of the world, real and fictional. Ianto certainly succeeded in distracting Ashley better than anyone else did since the next thing either of them realised the Big Guy was calling them to dinner.

They pulled two tables together to provide enough space for everyone to eat together. Well everyone who could eat, Owen still sat with them to be social but he didn't have a plate in front of him. They made small talk over the main course and the chocolate cake that the Big Guy pulled out of the fridge.

When they had finished eating and were settled with tea and coffee Helen decided to bring everyone up to speed on what they were doing. "First of all I'd like to thank the Torchwood staff for such prompt and timely help, and also for the equipment loan."

"Oh come on." Jack said, "It wasn't like it was doing anything but sitting on shelf in the Archive."

"As I was saying." Helen otherwise ignored Jack's interruption. "Thanks to the Torchwood team we've made some good progress today. Dr Harper and I think we have developed a method of removing the parasite, it will need some tweaking once the containment system is finished but I'm confident it will work." She turned her attention to Henry and Tosh. "How is the containment system coming?"

"Pretty good boss." Henry said, "It will take another day or so to build the three units, but honestly it's the programming that's really going to take time."

"How long?" Helen asked.

"On my own? A month." Before Helen could object he continued, "With Tosh's help, a week. She's had a lot more practice at this sort of freaky hacking and programming than I have."

"We have to make sure that we get it right." Tosh told the table, backing Henry up. "It has to be as close to perfect as we can make it. We can't risk the parasite getting loose and infecting either the building or a host." Everyone ignored Ashley's shudder of revulsion at the idea."

"I understand." Helen assured them both, "But please work as fast as you can." The two computer techs nodded, "How are we coming with tracking John down?"

Will and Gwen looked at each other. "Not as good as you in the lab apparently." Will admitted, "The hard part is that Druitt has no bank account or credit card, at least that I know of." He glanced to Helen shook her head, as far as she knew John had no bank account either. "So we haven't been able to track his movements that way."

"We hacked into various police databases using Tosh's back-door programs." Gwen said, "We've found several murders over the last few months that could be Druitt's. We have the computer program set to alert us if there's another possible incident." Gwen tried to phrase it as delicately as possible. "Will said that Ashley would be able to teleport there and then trace Druitt's teleport."

Ashley nodded, "I can, but we never tested it in the field."

"You'll have that chance now." Helen told her. "I hope Jack, that you and your team will be able to stay for a week. It will put me in you debt."

"Shouldn't be a problem." Jack assured her, "I'll make some calls and get a friend of mine in UNIT to keep an eye on Cardiff for a week or two." Jack looked over at Gwen, "You might want to call your husband."

"Please, feel free to us the phone in my office." Helen told her, "Whenever you like."

"Thank you."

"And you aren't in my debt." Jack told her firmly, "What's a favour between old friends? Hell we're practically family, you know I'd do anything for my god-daughter." He grinned at Ashley fondly.

"Plus I think everyone would be a lot happier if Jack the Ripper, or at least the parasite that made him go nuts, was locked up." Owen put in.


	5. Chapter 4

Four days later Tosh asked Ianto, when he brought then their coffee, if he could find Jack and send him to the main lab. "What is it Tosh?" Jack asked as he strode into the main lab.

Henry answered him since Tosh was in the middle of a very tricky bit of coding, "You've got to do something about Magnus."

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, confused.

"She's in here every half hour." Henry complained, "I get that this means a lot to her I really do but we'd be done sooner if she'd stop interrupting us."

"He's right Jack." Tosh said, not stopping her rapid typing as she spoke, "We won't get this done if she keeps interrupting us. Ashley was nearly as bad until Kate took her riding."

"I'll deal with it." Jack promised, "I can't promise that she'll stop checking on your progress but I'll try and cut down the frequency"

"Tell Ianto to send her with the coffee." Henry suggested.

"Good idea." Tosh said "Then she can still check up on us but its not too often and she's doing something useful."

"Just don't let her make the coffee." Henry begged. Devoted tea drinker that Helen was, her opinion of coffee was very well know and had even once saved her life. Her distaste for the drink was coupled with a complete inability to actually make it.

"I won't." Jack promised and headed off to find Helen. He found Will first. "Hey Will, have you seen Helen?"

"Not recently." The young man told him.

"What are you working on?" Jack asked noticing the folder he was holding.

"Just some routine admin." Will said, "This is the head Sanctuary after all, the rebuilt Sanctuaries have only just reopened so we've been co-ordination the return of the residents and staff movements. Magnus had been handling it but then we had the call about the empaths and the whole thing with Druitt, so I took over."

"Perfect." Jack said, "Give me the paperwork then go find something else to do, something psychological based, whatever, just something."

Will looked baffled for a moment then understand dawned across his face. "Looking for a way to keep Magnus out of the main lab?"

"Yes, before Henry goes wolf and Tosh pulls her hair out." Jack said, "She's driving then crazy, checking up on them every half hour."

"That sounds like Magnus." Will agreed.

"You're a psychiatrist, how are Helen and Ashley holding up?"

Will thought for a moment, "I'd say that Ashley is holding up better than Magnus at the moment, probably because she never had her father in her life until this last year or so and even then, since he still had the parasite, it wasn't really him." He paused for a moment, "Immediately after it happened she seemed to be in shock, she got through the night though I'm not sure if she slept. But I think it really hit her the next morning and then she teleported to you. If we don't manage to save Druitt I think it will be difficult for her but she will adjust fairly quickly after spending a life time believing her father was dead."

"And Helen?" Jack asked knowing that she had to be taking everything worse.

"She's different." Will agreed. "Since she knew Druitt before the creature, she's always carried the guilt for not been able to help him and for not been able to kill him. Now she know that it wasn't fault, at least not completely, that guilt is going to be magnified. I think that if she looses him now, it will break her." Will said sadly, "She knows that the man she loved and possibly still loves, is alive inside him and that if the creature is removed he'll be healed. If they fail to remove it or he dies in the process she will never forgive herself for it and will likely spend the rest of her potentially very long life second guessing herself."

"That's what I was afraid you'd say." Jack said, "After what happened they'd both take his death harder because they wouldn't be able to think that he deserved it, even in the slightest, since we know that he's possessed."

"You know what the plan to remove the creature is then." Will said.

Jack nodded, "It's the only way, Helen has asked me to keep Ashley back during the procedure. Helen doesn't want her to know in about the details in advance."

"Are you sure that's the best course of action?" Will asked.

Jack shrugged, "It's Helen's call, she wants Ashley to be spared the worry before hand and the guilt of agreeing to it afterwards if they fail to bring him back."

Will nodded, "I understand." He handed the folder to Jack. "Just find me if you need any more paperwork for her." He told him, "There's always something laying around here needs taking care of."

"Sounds like Torchwood." Jack said with a grin and set off in search of Helen. After failing to find her in her office, either of the Libraries or any of the labs he finally found her in her bedroom.

To his surprise she wasn't in one of the chairs or even on the bed, instead she was curled on the floor next to her dressing table, the bottom draw was still open and she was cradling a small picture in her hands.

"John?" Jack asked as he sat down on the floor next to her.

Helen nodded, "I kept it on my dresser until I found out what he was doing, then I buried it in the back of a draw and tried to forget about it." She stroked her fingers over the image of a slightly younger looking John, though that could just have been because he had hair at the time. "I could never get rid of it. The same as he could never abandon the locket I gave him."

"This has been buried all these years?"

"No," Helen told him, "I had to uncover it when I moved here. Then I took it out when I decided to bring Ashley to term and again when she was born. After that I put it away." Helen smiled slightly, "But I think Ashley must have found it because it wasn't exactly where I left it."

"That sounds like Ashley." Jack agreed, she was just the type of girl to go investigating her mother's drawers when Helen wasn't looking. "Do you think she recognised him?"

Helen shook her head, "She didn't, at least not right away though the picture did probably help her put everything together." Helen looked thoughtful for a moment, "I never did show you my photograph of the Five did I?" Jack shook his head and Helen reached into the draw to pull out a second larger framed photo. "This was taken at the same time as the others."

In the photograph Helen was seated in the middle, dressed in her finest dress, her hair curling over her shoulders and clearly a lighter colour than it was at present, even the black and white image showed that. Standing around her were the male members of the Five, also all clearly dressed in their finest clothes. John stood to her left, his arm going across her back to rest on her right shoulder, possessive and tender love showing in every line of his body. To her right stood James Watson and next to him was Tesla, managing to look as arrogant and condescending as he always did. On John's other side was the final member of the Five, Nigel Griffin. The invisible man had been the first of them to die, but also the first of them to have a family even though his line had ended just weeks after the death of James Watson when Clara died.

"I wish they knew." Helen said, stroking her fingers over the faces of Nigel and James. "I wish they knew they weren't wrong about John, that he was and still is a good man. That what he did wasn't his fault. I can't loose him again Jack."

"I will do everything in my power to see that you don't have to." Jack told her, "He knew this was happening. He came to me months ago, when you were in Cardiff, and asked me to promise that I would kill him if he lost control again."

"Why didn't he tell me?" Helen wondered.

"Probably for the same reason he didn't a hundred and twenty years ago, perhaps he wanted to spare you the worry, or possibly the creature wouldn't allow him to."

"Perhaps." Helen agreed then she noticed the folder in Jack's hands. "What have you got there?"

"Something for you actually." Jack told her. "Will said that he'd been handling the paperwork since this all started but then something came up, a resident really needed to talk to him and this needed to be done urgently so I said I'd get it to you and ask if you could do it."

"Henry and Tosh asked you to distract me." Helen had no problem in guessing the real reason that Jack had come seeking her bearing paperwork. She knew that she was annoying and distracting the tech pair but she hadn't been able to stop herself.

"Henry did say that you could still stop by if you brought their coffee." Jack offered.

Helen sighed, "I know I was irritating them by looking over their shoulder, I couldn't help it. I need to know that they're making progress."

"They are." Jack assured her, "And they'll make more without been interrupted, so we're going to do your paperwork and leave them to it."

"Ianto warned me about you and paperwork Jack." Helen said, "Is it true you once labelled your rubbish bin as your in-box?"

"Only for paperwork from the government or UNIT." Jack pointed out, "Not for anything important."

"Jack your definition of important differs quite alarmingly from the rest of the planet's." Helen told him but she rose to her feet and after a moments consideration closed the drawer and placed the two pictures clearly on her dresser.

For the next four days Helen didn't sleep, over the years she had trained herself to need less and less sleep, it meant that when the need arose she could go for days without sleep. Truthfully there was no need at the moment for her to be missing sleep. But equally true was the fact that she couldn't sleep, everything in her life revolved around the outcome of the next few day.

Undoubtedly her life would change but the question keeping Helen from her rest was whether that change would be good or bad. She would either loose John completely to death or she would get back the man she had fallen in love with and who still loved her. The man who she might be able to allow herself to love once again.

Helen wasn't the only one not sleeping, Owen couldn't and Jack needed even less than Helen did. Both did what they would to help. In Owen's case that was helping to run the Sanctuary while Jack was allowed to do some of the simpler coding for the containment unit. Ianto too was permitted to help, spelling Tosh and Henry while they ate. That way there was someone working on the unit twenty-four hours a day.

As promised the containment unit took seven days to complete, another day was needed to sort the shield that would prevent the parasite from escaping and to link in the removal device. The last part at least meant the Helen had something to do.

As did Ashley, finally. With Will and Gwen having no luck tracking Druitt in cyberspace it was left to Ashley and Kate to track him the old fashioned way. Ashley used every contact her mother had made in her a hundred and fifty plus years while Kate had the underworld contacts she'd built up over her time as a freelance operative. Jack also made himself useful and called in a few favours he was owed.

Eventually they tracked Druitt down. "He's in Egypt. Jack told Helen, the two of them along with Ashley, Kate and Ianto were gathered in Helen's office.

"Why would he be in Egypt?" Helen wondered, "How did you find him?"

"An old friend of mine retired there." Jack said, "I put out word of who I was looking for, apparently Druitt had been making himself known in certain circles, circles that I would know and your would not. He's leading me to himself."

"But why?" Helen wondered.

"When he was in Cardiff we talked." Jack admitted, "He feared that the control he had gained because of Tesla's torture was slipping, he wanted my word that I would kill him if he became The Ripper again, so he couldn't hurt either of you." He looked between Helen and Ashley.

"And you gave him your word?" Helen knew that Jack would consider him promise as binding as John would, both were quite old fashioned in that regard.

"Not in the way he thought." Jack assured them, "I gave my word that I would do whatever it takes to stop him."

"And Druitt assumed that would mean that you'd kill him." Ianto put in, "But is could mean doing everything you can to help catch him."

"Exactly," Jack said, "He wants to be found but only by me."

"So how will we do this?" Helen asked, "I suspect you have more experience at this sort of thing."

"The important thing is that he thinks you aren't involved, if anything this has to look like a Torchwood `operation." Jack was thoughtful, "He knows I wouldn't go alone, so I'll take Ianto. Ashley and Kate come as well. We draw Druitt out and then Ashley shots him with the dart gun."

"What if something happens and it doesn't knock him out?" Kate asked, she had no desire to be anywhere near a pissed off Jack the Ripper, after all the parasite had tried to drop the lift she was in from the top of the Sanctuary, it was only thanks to the Big Guy that she wasn't a pancake.

"That is where this comes in." Ianto reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a standard issue Torchwood stun gun. "Torchwood, guaranteed to knock out anyone and anything, at least for a while."

"So why aren't we using that?" Kate asked "Instead of dart gun."

"Because it's electrical based." Helen told her, "John's body has already suffered several electric shocks over the past week, I don't want to add more unless we have no other choice." With Ashley present she did not want to mention that the only way they had to remove the parasite involved stopping John's heart again. With that in mind the additional jolt of the stun gun was defiantly something to be avoided. "So if we want this to look like a Torchwood operation how would we do it."

Jack and Ianto looked at each other, "We have to fly." Ianto said, "And it has to be from the UK, so Ashley will teleport us back to Cardiff, from there we take a privet jet to Egypt. I'll set up some accommodation in advance, we can't have any contact with Sanctuary personnel."

"Let me call Martha." Jack said, "See if I can't get a UNIT plane for us." Jack pulled out his phone and hit a speed dial. "Hey Martha it's Jack, how's Cardiff." He paused to listen, "Good listen I need another favour." Pause, "Yes I know that's all I ever call you about, I'll get you a gift." Pause. "I need a plane from Cardiff to Egypt." Pause, "Yes I know I'm not in Cardiff at the moment, but I will be soon."

He turned to the others, "How soon can we be ready?"

The two girls looked at Helen. "Give me two hours to make sure you'll have everything and you know how the tranquilliser-gun works."

"We'll be back in Cardiff in two hours, outside the Hub. I'll brief you then." Pause. "Good, thank you Martha. I owe you one. See you in two hours." He snapped his phone shut.

"She'll meet us in two hours to escort us to a UNIT jet which will take us to Egypt." Jack told them. Meanwhile Ianto had whipped out his PDA, it was modified to allow him to access the Torchwood mainframe. He booked them into a good hotel, having no idea how long they would be there, though hopefully it wouldn't be too long, he booked two rooms. Then he hacked into the computer system and changed the date on the booking for the girls room to several months ago.

He looked up to see the other four watching him, "All set?" Jack asked.

"Of course." Ianto said. "I booked us two rooms then I hacked in and changed the date on the booking for Ashley and Kate's room. Ours is under your name Jack but I put the other room under false names, you are a pair of university friends."

"Never went to college." Ashley said, "I didn't like studying at the best of times and Mom seemed to think I could get into enough trouble without help. Besides she's been often enough for the both of us anyway."

"Ashley."

"Mom, you went to Oxford twice."

"The first time they refused to grant me my degree because I was a woman." Helen said, "And there had been several advances in medicine since then."

"Anyway." Jack interrupted the mother daughter argument, "We have someone waiting for us in less then two hours, so I suggest you grab whatever it is you need and lets get ready to go. And Ashley?" Jack called after her as she followed Kate out. "Find something to cover your head, your pale skin will stand out enough but if your father catches sight of a blond he'll know you're following him. He'll run before you can catch up with him."

"Take one of my scarves." Helen said, "But make sure you take it from the back of my wardrobe, John's seen the ones near the front, I wore them while I was looking for you."

"It might be a good idea for Kate to wear one as well." Ianto suggested, "It will help them to blend in."

Kate looked less than happy but shrugged, she could live with it for a while but she wouldn't like it. The two girls headed off to pack and raid Helen's wardrobe. Jack and Ianto didn't have much to pack but they would need to brief their team before they left. Ianto decided to leave that task to Jack since he supposed to be the boss, plus his packing skills left a lot to be desired.

"Do you really think this will work?" Helen asked.

"The capture or the removal and containment?" Jack asked, "The second part I have no doubt about, not with Toshiko on the job, and as for the first; he's waiting for me Helen. He expects me to turn up and kill him."

"I want him back Jack. I need him back."

Jack walked around Helen's desk and pulled her up out of her chair and into his arms. "Do you still love him?" He'd seen the footage from outside main lab, heard Druitt's deceleration of love.

"Two weeks ago I would have said that at best I loved him as a friend." Helen said as she leant against Jack's chest, enjoying the support and the knowledge that he wouldn't judge her no matter what she said.

"And now?" Jack prompted when she didn't continue.

"I don't know." Helen admitted, "When we were locked in that cell together it was almost like when we were young, even though we knew we might die there was no awkwardness between us like there was when we were looking for Ashley. We sat beside one another and talked, not just about the thing trying to kill us but about other things too. He asked how Ashley was, how the rebuilding of the Sanctuaries was going."

Helen smiled then her voice sounded sad again, "Before he took the parasite back he told me he still loved me. 'For all eternity', he said those very words to me the night he asked me to marry him and for a moment I was that girl again, so young and in love." Helen took a deep breath, "I think I still love him Jack, oh God, I know I do. I still love him."

"Then I will bring him back to Helen." Jack told her confidently, "I have lost so many that I love, I would not want you to feel that pain."

Helen took a moment to compose herself then stepped out of Jack's embrace, "I know you will Jack, I can never repay you for this."

"You already have Helen, in ways you cannot understand." Jack told her thinking of all the years he had lived and the comfort of having another person who had lived them as well. He knew he faced literally eternity and that Helen probably wouldn't, not since she didn't have his ability to come back from the dead but at least for the time being he had someone else who had lived longer than a human should. And she and the other members of the Five had offered him something close to a family at a time when he had needed it most. She and James had been there when he returned from both the Wars.

"Now I need to brief my team." Jack told her, "They'll be answering to you until I get back, use then however you like." He gave smirked and she giggled, "But try to get Tosh to at least take a nap, she's exhausted from working on this."

"I'll take good care of them." Helen promised.

"I know you will." Jack told her, "We'll meet in the main Entrance Hall, have everything we might need sent there."

Helen nodded and Jack left to find his team. He encountered Gwen in one of the Halls and together they found Tosh and Owen still in the main lab. "Ianto and I are heading out in two hours with Ashley and Kate to capture Druitt. We want to keep the team small since Druitt has to believe that this is either just me or at the most a Torchwood operation. When they were in Cardiff he asked me to kill him if he ever lost control. He's expecting me to turn up, waiting for it."

"So you're going to use that." Owen guessed, "Let him see you and then have one of the others dart him while his attention is on you."

"Are you sure you don't want one of us to go with you?" Gwen asked.

"No." Jack said firmly, "Druitt knows that I wouldn't bring a large team with me on something like this. It's a personal mission so I can just about justify Ianto but he knows I would leave the rest of you in Cardiff to monitor the Rift."

"Alright Jack." Gwen agreed, seeing that he would not be dissuaded on this.

"You're under Helen's command until I return." Jack continued, "Help out where you can."

"'Be a good house guest', Jack?"Owen said sarcastically.

"Yes and if you could get Tosh and Henry to sleep, in an actual bed." Jack added looking over at Tosh who was fighting to keep her eyes open while she listened to his instructions and Henry, who had fallen asleep in the table top with his head pillowed on his arms.

"We will Jack." Owen promised as he moved to Tosh's side and lifted her to her feet, supporting her with one arm around her shoulder. "Come on Tosh, bed time."

"You did good Toshiko." Jack said as Owen guided her past him and out of the main lab, hopefully towards her bed. Meanwhile Gwen had shaken Henry awake and suggested that he get some sleep.

"No I need to be here." The half asleep werewolf insisted, "In case the equipment needs a last minute modification or calibration.

"Henry." Jack place both his hands on the other man's shoulders, "That won't be for at least seven or eight hours, use them to get some rest. You're no use to anyone if you're too tired to see the screens properly."

"You're probably right man." Henry agreed "I'll just get a few hours."

"Oh and Gwen, if you can get Helen to take a nap as well it would be a good idea but don't try to force her."

"Good luck with that." Henry muttered. As he headed out of the main lab followed by Gwen who looked worried that the half asleep werewolf was going to walk into a wall or fall back down the stairs as soon as he'd climbed them.

* * *

AN: Next time they catch up with Druitt, hope you enjoyed this and please leave me a review (are all the people who read Survival Instinct reading this too?)


	6. Chapter 5

Ianto and Jack both had their bags slung over their shoulder and were waiting in the Entrance Hall while Helen gave Ashley and Kate some last minute instructions that were probably completely unneeded but would at least make the older woman feel happier. That done Ashley laid a hand on each of the men's arms and teleported them to just outside the tourist office and thus just outside the EM shield. Releasing them immediately Ashley jumped back to the Sanctuary to pick up Kate and their bags.

"Well there's something you don't see everyday." Came a voice from just to their left and both men turned to see Martha Jones waiting for them. "UNIT's been working on something like that but haven't got it that good yet."

"Martha Jones!" Jack said with a wide grin as he swept her into a hug.

"It's so good to see you Jack." Martha said when he released her, "Hello Ianto."

"Hello Martha, you've been well?"

"Not had anything try to kill me recently." She told them with a grin. At that moment Ashley returned it Kate and their equipment. "I assume these two have something to do with why you called me?"

"More or less." Jack told her as he pulled her over to meet them. "This is Martha Jones, UNIT doctor and a very good friend of mine. And these are Ashley Magnus and Kate Freelander. Ashley is my god-daughter, her mother, and their boss, is a very old, very good friend of mine."

As Martha shook hands with them both her eyes widened, "Not Helen Magnus?" She asked turning her wide questioning eyes on Jack who nodded, "I've read about her in the UNIT files, the woman is a legend. Figures you'd know her." She added with a gentle shove to his arm. "We have a plane waiting at a privet air strip just outside Cardiff and a car over here." She lead them over and Jack was slightly surprised that there wasn't a driver or military escort.

"No guards?" He asked sounding almost a little disappointed.

"Just because you want to drool over them and their UNIT caps." Ianto teased, Ashley and Kate just followed behind both looking slightly bemused. They were defiantly missing something here.

"Besides I thought you'd want to keep this as privet as possible otherwise you'd have called one of the top brass that owe you a favour, or owe Helen Magnus a favour." Martha climbed into the drivers seat while Jack took the front passenger side leaving the back for Ashley, Kate and Ianto. The latter of whom had the foresight to put all their stuff in the boot. "What's all this about Jack?" Martha asked when she'd started the car.

Jack grinned, "We're going to catch Jack the Ripper."

To her credit Martha was remarkably calm when informed that their mission was to catch one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, she won major points with Ashley for not asking if they were joking. After all, with everything she'd seen a Victorian serial killer running around the modern world seemed almost normal. Her first question however was probably a rather poor reflection on Jack. "Please tell me he isn't you ex?"

Jack started laughing and Ashley actually looked a little ill, "Lady that's my dad you're talking about."

Martha turned to look at her, fortunately the traffic was stopped at some traffic lights at the time, she studied the younger woman for a long moment and then turned back to the road, "Well that isn't in the UNIT file on Magnus."

"If you can avoid crashing I can brief you now." Jack offered.

Martha shook her head, "Save it until we're in the air."

"Err Martha?" Jack started but she cut him off.

"No buts Jack." She said firmly. "UNIT refused to lead you a plane unless I accompany you on it, I don't know what you did to the last one but apparently they don't trust you anymore." Jack had the decency to look faintly embarrassed at that. "I'll stay with the plane once we get to Egypt, in case you need it to get home."

"We shouldn't do." Jack told her.

"Well I can't wait to hear your explanation for why you're flying from Cardiff instead of just teleporting all the way, from what I've heard Magnus had people in Egypt."

"Mom does." Ashley said, "And that's the problem, they can't know we're there."

They'd been in the air for nearly two hours before Martha had the complete story. Ianto had made them all coffee, apologising for the poor quality but he was stuck dealing with what was on board. "That makes sense," Martha said as she sipped her coffee, "In a sort of sick and twisted way. Do you think the parasite is an alien or one of those abnormals that Doctor Magnus works with?"

Jack shrugged, "If it ever stops trying to kill us long enough to run some tests you'll be the first to know."

"And the first thing it did when it escaped was try to kill?" Martha asked.

"Everyone in the house." Kate told her. She was still holding a quite justifiable and understandable, in her opinion, grudge against the thing that had tried to kill her. Repeatedly.

"And you're certain this containment unit will hold?" Martha asked.

"Helen's tech guy was pretty certain and he had one of the bes t minds in the world helping him." Jack told her with a gin.

"Tosh?" Martha asked and grinned when Jack nodded, "Everything should be alright then." She'd done some reading on Jack's team before she'd gone to Cardiff that first time and Tosh's file had been longer than anyone else's, bar Jack's of course. She just wished she'd known in advance that she'd be meeting with Sanctuary personnel, especially the daughter of the great Helen Magnus, so she could read up on their files. Of course since there was no mention of Jack the Ripper and his very intimate connection to both the Magnus women,it was probably fairly safe to say that the files were incomplete.

They landed in Egypt just before sunset. "What's the plan now Jack?" Martha asked.

"I need you to get Ashley and Kate off the plane without anyone seeing them." Jack said, "Ianto and I will make our way to the hotel, give us three hours and then follow." He continued to Ashley and Kate. "Do everything you can to avoid teleporting. Get checked in at the hotel and I'll start making contact with my old acquaintances, see if anyone knows where Druitt is. If nothing else I'll be asking the right questions in the right places to get his attention."

"I have just the plan Jack." Martha said with a grin. "You two go ahead and I'll keep these two busy for a bit." She turned to the two younger women, "Did you ever play soldier when you were growing up?"

"Martha please tell me you have a camera?" Jack said fifteen minutes later, just as he and Ianto were preparing to exit the plane. The good doctor had dressed both Ashley and Kate in UNIT uniforms and Jack had to admit they both looked pretty good in them.

"Don't worry." Ashley said, "We got pictures for you to show mom when we get back." Between the unfamiliar uniform, complete with red beret, and her hair twisted up in a tight twist at the back of her head, Ashley had hardly recognised herself in the mirror. So it would be a fairly safe bet that, unless he got close, her father wouldn't recognise her either, and by the time he was that close she intended to have him unconscious.

"Your entire family owes me one for this Ash." Kate complained as she tugged at the collar of her uniform. Her dark hair was likewise fastened up in a twist under her red beret. Ashley just grinned, she didn't bother reminding her friend that they already owed her for saving Helen's life and nothing would ever be able to wipe out that debt.

"At least it's an easy cover." Jack commented, "You just have to stand there and look cute, that's all the UNIT soldiers I've seen ever do." Everyone was grateful when Ianto smacked him round the back of the head. They exited the plane and Ashley and Kate stood slightly behind Martha as she and Jack exchanged pleasantries and thanks for the loan of the plane. They looked for all the world like proper UNIT bookends, just as they should.

Although Ianto had never travelled to Egypt before it was clear Jack had since he was able to quickly get them to the hotel they'd booked. Once they were checked in, they headed up to their room, "Well the girls shouldn't have too much trouble finding the hotel." Jack said in a low voice once they were in the lift. "I know at least Ashley has been here before and this place it kinda hard to miss."

"That was why I picked it." Ianto told him as they arrived that their floor. "We're not trying to hide our presence here."

When they entered their room Jack complained, "What no double bed?"

Ianto sighed, "Jack do you know what the penalty is for homosexuality in Egypt? I really didn't fancy testing how far our diplomatic immunity goes, especially since they don't know who Torchwood are out here." All Torchwood staff had diplomatic immunity, it was useful but Ianto was pretty sure it wasn't intended for dealing with pissed off locals because of avoidable things, such as sleeping arrangements. "Besides even a single bed has more space than that camp bed under you office."

"I suppose we can always push them together." Jack commented. Ianto sighed, Jack would never change. Not that he really wanted him to but it was sometimes just the principle really.

"What now?" Ianto asked after placing their bags in the bottom of the wardrobe, hopefully they wouldn't actually be there long enough to need to unpack.

"Now we start asking around."

Night brought no luck, Jack and Ianto returned to their hotel having been unable to contact Druitt. Jack's contacts had confirmed that John had been making himself known in certain circles. So far there had only been one death that the two men could attribute to Druitt but since the dead man was a known rapist and paedophile, his preferred victims been girls of around twelve to fourteen, no one was really complaining.

"If the creature is driving him to murder I'd prefer he stuck to rapists." Jack said when they'd met up with Ashley and Kate in the girls' room.

Ashley nodded, "So no luck contacting him?"

"No." Jack said, "but we've made our presence obvious, I suspect it'll only be a matter of time before he makes himself known.

"He could be keeping an eye on us." Ianto suggested, "To make sure that it is just us and we don't have any Sanctuary personnel with us. He knows that would be a risk with a Sanctuary so close."

"That means we really need to keep out of sight." Kate said, the others agreed and they chatted for a while before Jack and Ianto headed to their own room for the nigh.

"Captain Harkness, sir?" Jack and Ianto were just returning to the hotel for lunch when the man on reception hailed them, "A gentleman has left a message for you."

The receptionist handed him a folded piece of paper. "Thank you." Jack said, remembering Ianto's warning about flirting with the natives. The receptionist returned to his desk and Jack unfolded the sheet of paper. 'CJH, meet at the abandoned warehouse twenty minutes south of your hotel. 6pm. MJD'

"Is it him?" Ianto asked, Jack showed him the paper, "We should head to lunch and then get a nap while the sun is strong." Ianto suggested, they both knew that meant they should tell the girls.

"Room service." Jack suggested. They headed up to their room, pausing at the one Ashley and Kate shared to knock a specific pattern on the door. They didn't both waiting for them to answer, the knock had been a code for them to join them in Jack and Ianto's room.

A few minutes later Ianto put the phone down from ordering enough lunch for the four of them to share, a second later there was a knock at the door and Ashley opened it without waiting for an answer. "Didn't your mother teach you to wait for an answer?" Jack asked, "We might have been busy." He added with a leer at Ianto

"As if." Ashley said, sweeping into the room, "You got in less than five minutes ago and knew we were coming. Ianto wouldn't let you get 'busy'."

Ianto grinned, "I did order lunch though."

"Great." Kate said, "I'm starving, so you got news?" Jack showed them the sheet of paper, "MJD?" Kate asked after she and Ashley had read it.

"Montague John Druitt." Ashley answered, "He hated his first name, that was why everyone called him John." She explained, he'd told her that while he was teaching her to control her teleporting. "It was his mother's family name and at school it got him the nickname 'Romeo'"

"Officially lost." Kate said.

"Shakespeare, Romeo's surname is Montague." Ashley explained.

Jack shook his head in mock sadness, "What do they teach you kids these days?"

"Don't look at me." Ianto said, "They still teach British school kids Shakespeare."

"So you're going to meet with him?" Ashley asked.

Jack nodded, "We have a few things we need to go over first. I know the warehouse he's talking about and it's a good choice." He took the pen and paper than Ianto handed him and sketched the layout. "It's all one room but there's a walkway like level around three of the walls and office space here." He pointed to the front right of the sketch. "Last time I was there it seemed to be used to store junk, lots of boxes and wooden creates."

"Sounds familiar." Ashley commented, remembering the room Druitt had taken her to when he had kidnapped her seeking her aid in protecting her mother from Tesla. A lot had happened since then.

"So Druitt will probably be in the main area." Jack said, "Ashley, you and Kate teleport to the roof, the entrance access to the main area is here. Ianto and I will come through the main door."

"Wait." Ianto suggested, immediately spotting a flaw with Jack's plan, "I have a suggestion."

John waited for Harkness in the middle of the warehouse. He felt strangely at peace, more so than he had in the nearly two weeks since he had taken the creature back into himself. Soon he would die and without another easily available host, hopefully the creature within him would die too.

He didn't want to die. He wanted to live. He wanted to be a father to Ashley and a friend to Helen, he could only dream that she would allow him to be anything more than that.

But he couldn't allow himself, and the evil within, to live.

He remembered the freedom of that hour he had been himself again. The rage that had consumed him for so long was gone, gone more completely than it had been when Tesla had shocked him back to his senses. Then it had only pushed it away, forced the demon to sleep. Gradually though it had awakened again. Strengthened by the blood he had shed in retribution of the loss of his daughter. By the time he had realised she wasn't dead it had already been too late, the creature was too strong. All he could do was fight for those few precious months that it had been safe to see Ashley.

Perhaps the creature would always have awakened eventually but he was sure the blood of the Cabal had wakened it sooner then it would otherwise had. The blood and death was like an addiction now, and one he couldn't break, not as long as that thing was inside him. He was certain that Ashley and Helen had known there was something wrong with him when he had begun to gradually limit his contact.

Eventually he would have severed it altogether, once again exiling himself from his family, but when Helen had phoned to beg his help in rescuing a ship of Empaths he could not refuse. He was more experienced than Ashley, teleporting under such adverse circumstances, a burning ship on the other side of the world took practice that his daughter did not have. And he knew that she still had a small, and understandable, fear of fire which would also compromise her teleporting ability. So he'd done what he could to help, intending to leave as soon as possible.

Then that Empath had spoken to him and although he couldn't fully understand her, something about her had set the demon off and he'd slit her throat. Putting her body in a cupboard couldn't really be described as hiding it, he knew someone would find it sooner or later. And he knew that once they did Helen would come for him. There would be no doubt about the identity of the killer. As she had done so long ago she would come for him.

He wanted to let her kill him but the fresh blood was fuelling the demon and he couldn't stop himself. Now that he'd been free of the demon, even for a short time, he could more easily tell where it ended and the man began. The man who was very nearly physically sick at the idea of hurting Helen. The same man who could still see the faint scars on his daughter's neck and wished someone would shoot him.

He'd be getting that wish soon. Harkness was supposed to arrive within ten minutes. He'd made himself very evident in the circles where the Torchwood leader would have contacts but Helen wouldn't. He had been so careful to avoid any possible contact with Sanctuary personnel. He knew Helen might be looking for him but he couldn't risk that it would be her who found him, the demon would kill her. The demon might try to kill Harkness but at least it wouldn't be permanent.

He'd helped Helen examine her injury afterwards, when they were both locked in the holding cell by the creature. She had a vicious bruise covering her side and John was horrified that he caused it, even possessed by the demon as he had been. Worse, he'd thrown that knife at her and then only minutes later he had come so very close to slitting her throat.

Once again Kate Freelander had saved Helen's life from a member of her own family. It was ironic in a sick sort of way.

The demon was sleeping now, it's bloodlust sated for the moment with the rapist he had killed two days earlier as the man had tried to rape a girl would couldn't have been more than fifteen, if that. That at least John could say, he had never killed children. He told the girl to run before he'd taken great satisfaction in killing the man. At least with the girl out of the way the demon wouldn't kill her after it got done with the guilty man.

The sound of the door opening caused him to look up, there was Harkness in his usual old fashioned military style. John had done some very careful checking before making contact with him to be sure that he wasn't working with the Sanctuary. He'd travelled to Egypt on a UNIT jet, accompanied by his colleague and a female UNIT doctor that was a friend of his and no doubt the reason he was on a UNIT plane. There had also been a pilot, co-pilot and two soldiers with them. No signs of any Sanctuary people nor had they made contact with the local Sanctuary since they'd landed.

"Harkness." John said as the other man walked towards him.

"Druitt."

"Has Helen spoken to you about last week?" John wanted to know how much Harkness knew.

"Ashley came to me, in tears." The other man admitted, "Then I went to America and comforted Helen as best I could."

"How are they?" John's voice broke slightly as he asked, he knew he would never see them again but he still loved them with all that was left of his heart and soul.

"Grieving for you." Harkness sighed, "If you mean Helen's injury then it healed." John was grateful for his phrasing, for his refraining from pointing out that it was John who had caused the injury in the first place. "Emotionally I think this will take a long time for them to recover from."

"I know." John regretted the pain he had caused them and the pain that he would continue to cause them, in a way it would have been better if Tesla's torture had never repressed the demon, then they would have never known about the demon. Ashley would never even have known him and as much pain as that thought called him he knew that it would have been easier for her. "I assume you're here to fulfil your word Captain."

"If you force me to." Harkness said.

John was about to answer when he heard a sound coming from the walkway the ringed three of the walls. Immediately he had a knife in his hand. "Come out."

He wasn't surprised when he saw Ianto Jones step out of the shadows of the upper level. The Welshman was pointing a gun at him. He nodded and turned his attention back to Harkness, he knew that the other man wouldn't act without his Captain's order so he wasn't a threat. Besides death was what he wanted.

"Don't make me do this." Harkness said, "I know that the reason you're like this is that there's something inside you, come back to Cardiff we me and we'll find a way to take it out of you."

John laughed bitterly, "So that it can infect all of those wonderful alien things you have there." He said, "I know Helen will have told you what the demon did when it got into the Sanctuary, I can't let it loose ever again."

"What about Helen and Ashley? Do you want me to have to tell them that I killed you? She'd my god-daughter and you want me to tell her I killed her father."

"She'll understand, they both will." John insisted and he was sure that they would. Helen had decades of experience and Ashley had once been prepared to die to save her mother. Surely they would booth understand.

"Their heads will understands but in their hearts I will always be the killer of someone they loved."

"Then so be it." John said, he wasn't oblivious to what the other man would suffer but it was the only choice, "This evil in me cannot be allowed to be free, you have to kill me." He dropped the knife he still held to the floor and held his hands slightly away from his body. "Do it." Harkness pulled his gun but still hesitated. "Do it!"

Harkness pointed his weapon square at John's forehead, "Any last words?" He asked.

"Tell Helen and Ashley I love them and I'm sorry but this was the only way." John said and he felt so peaceful, it was taking all his strength to hold the demon at bay, to stop it forcing him to run, but it would soon be over and those he loved would know that and be safe.

"I've had to kill people before." Harkness said but John wasn't really listening, instead he was wondering if he would see James and Nigel in the afterlife or if he would be condemned to hell for not better controlling the demon. "People who were also possessed by something evil that they couldn't control. There was no hope for Lisa."

At that moment John felt a dart smack into his neck, he spun round and looked up to where Jones had been standing, expecting to see the Welshman holding the dart gun. Instead he looked straight into the eyes of his daughter, tears in her eyes and a tranquilliser gun in her hand. He tried to teleport but something was stopping him. An EM shield he vaguely realised as he collapsed to the floor.

"There is for you." Harkness finished and as the darkness took him John wondered just what the hell he was on about. There was no hope for him and there never would be.

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AN: And they caught John, it's all good - now we jsut need to get that thing our of him. Please leave a review


	7. Chapter 6

AN: Thank you for the reviews, I do try to keep my AUs reasonably realistic. Glad you all seem to be enjoying it.

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As soon as Druitt collapsed to the floor Ashley teleported Ianto to the main floor of the warehouse. Because of the EM generator they had to arrive some distance away but as soon as they had appeared Ashley let go of him and joined Jack where he was kneeling next to her father.

"Is he alright?" She asked as Kate stepped around the door of the warehouse from where she had been hiding outside.

Jack nodded, "Out cold but otherwise fine. Ianto call it in." He ordered as he used his wrist strap to deactivate the EM generator that had been attached to the dart.

"It's Ianto, we have him." Ianto said into his phone, "Ashley's going to bring him in now if Henry will deactivate the EM shield?" He listened to the answer and then snapped the phone shut. "Your mother asked that you take him to the main lab." He told Ashley. "They've waiting for you there."

Ashley nodded, "What about you three?"

"I'll come with you now, just in case." Jack told her. "Ianto and Kate can clear our rooms and then you can come back for them later."

"You should be dealing with your dad," Kate suggested. "We'll check out and then head back to the UNIT base, I'm pretty sure Martha said she'd still be around and I want a rematch." In order to pass the few hours they needed to the previous day the three women had played poker, when Martha had thrashed the Sanctuary girls' asses Kate had demanded a rematch.

"You do that." Jack told them as Ashley placed one hand on him and one hand on her father, "And Ianto? That was a good plan." He added a split second before she teleported them.

It had been Ianto's idea that he go with Ashley while Kate followed Jack. His theory had been that if Druitt heard them sneak through the roof access then he could come forward and Druitt wouldn't think to look for someone else. He had to know that Jack wasn't in Egypt alone and that Ianto wouldn't allow Jack to meet with a murdering psychopath alone, therefore he would expect Ianto be either walk in with Jack or be somewhere nearby in case of an emergency. It had also been Ianto's idea to use Lisa's name as the code work to signal Ashley to shoot.

Everything had gone exactly as Ianto had planned, Druitt hadn't known Ashley was there until it was too late.

"Come on." Ianto said, "Lets get checked out and join Martha on the base." He kept his mouth shut on the fact that he was the Torchwood reigning champion of poker.

Helen sighed with relief when Ashley, Jack and an unconscious John appeared in the exact centre of the main lab. It wasn't that she didn't have perfect faith in the abilities of Jack and Ashley, but it was very reassuring to know that they had succeeded. She paid no attention to the fact that her team and Jack's all had their weapons draw and trained on John, she was insistently by his side and checking his vital signs, all of which were steady.

"Jack help in get him on the gurney." Helen ordered, nodding to Henry to bring the gurney over. Jack did as he was told without any argument. "What about Kate and Ianto?"

Ashley answered her mother, "They're clearing up in Egypt." She saw the look her mother gave her, "Nothing happened honestly. I meant they were packing up our rooms and then heading back to the UNIT base to wait. Kate thought I'd want to be here."

Helen smiled, "Of course. Everything is set up in the SHU." Helen explained as she began guiding the gurney in that direction. "We decided it would be safer to transfer the parasite to its new home in-situ. Then we don't have the added problem of moving the containment unit."

"And the SHU is defiantly where this thing belongs." Ashley said.

"Didn't you say that about your dad once?" Henry commented, he and Tosh, both having managed to catch up on at least some of the sleep they'd missed, would be there in case any last minute calibrations or alterations were needed while Owen as there as a back up medic and help for Helen is she needed it. The Big Guy, Will and Jack were moral support for Ashley who understandably refused to be anywhere else.

The cell that would house the containment unit had been specially prepared by Henry and Tosh. Everything that connected it to the outside world was removed, even down to the lights. A small generator used an idea stolen from the vampires of Balassam to derive electricity directly from the Earth to provide the energy needed to run the containment unit and EM generator. As a back up a second EM bubble would be placed around the room itself, this one produced from outside the room and powered by the Sanctuary's generators.

The overall idea was that parasite would never get free.

"Ashley, I want you to wait outside." Helen said as they reached the room.

"No mom." Ashley protested, "I should be there."

"You will be." Helen told her, gesturing to the observation window. "But I can not risk you in the room, what if the parasite somehow senses that you have the same abilities and jumps into you instead of the containment unit? I would never be able to forgive myself if that thing infect you." She cupped Ashley's face, "I lost my fiancé to that thing, I will not risk loosing you."

Ashley nodded, Jack placed his hands on her shoulders and steered her towards the observation window. He remained stood behind her with his hand on her shoulder, Henry and the Big Guy took up places on either side of her. All ready to offer whatever support they could.

Helen nodded as she went into the cell where Owen had already set up the gurney in the correct place and was preping the medical equipment. Henry was running last minute checks on the containment unit while Tosh ran every conceivable scan on John, these would be compared to scans taken after the removal in the hope of finding a physiological marker that would identify the presence of the parasite.

Once she had finished her scans she placed all the equipment out side of the room, nothing electrical was to be allowed in the room, not even cell phones and radios were allowed in the cell in case the parasite could somehow use it to escape.

"Are we ready?" Helen asked, she received nods from first Owen and then Tosh and Henry. "Alright then." She allowed herself to stroke the side of John's face and prayed that she was doing the right thing. Then she picked up the same weapon that she had used on him the previous week.

"Mom!" She heard Ashley shout from outside and looked up to see that Jack's supporting hands had become restraining. Helen turned her attention back to her patient.

"Henry is the room's EM shield on?" That shield would prevent the creature from getting out of the room and should force it into the containment unit where the second EM shield would keep it there.

"Yes doctor." Henry replied.

Helen nodded and took a deep breath before raising the weapon and firing point blank into John's heart. The last time it took three attempts to being him down, this time it only took one. Placing two fingers on John's neck Helen confirmed that his heart had stopped. She immediately reached of the defibrillator that was attached to the containment unit.

"Wait." Owen said, placing his hands over hers, "We have to wait to make the parasite desperate."

Helen nodded and took a deep breath, that had always been the plan. To recreate the original events as close as possible, including the delay before they attempted to revive John. Helen just hadn't realised how hard that waiting would be, she was grateful for the reassuring squeeze Owen gave her hands as they waited.

"Time." Tosh called, she had a pretty accurate internal time sense, something Jack had told her was unusual for the twenty-first century but in keeping with her already brilliant and analytical mind. With that in mind she had been nominated to keep track of the time since they didn't want to risk having even a watch in the room with the creature.

Helen immediately began to resuscitate John. As expected two hundred and three hundred volts had no effect so Helen ordered Owen to up the defibrillator to maximum, three hundred and sixty volts, since they still weren't sure whether or not the creature had caused the power surge Owen was also standing by to trip a switch and cause a power surge that Tosh had built into the system. Tosh hadn't been sure how the power surge would affect the machine or the person using it so it was a last resort and Owen would takeover since it was a proven fact that electricity couldn't harm his already dead body.

That precaution proved to be unnecessary. As soon as Helen administered the three hundred and sixty volt shock John's body stiffened even more than simply the shock should have caused, the area around the paddles glowed faintly pink.

"Got it!" Henry shouted excitedly as Helen checked John's pulse, finding it once again steady if weak. "Activating the EM shield." He paused for a moment and studied a small display panel on the EM shield generator, which was of necessity separated from the containment unit. "It's contained!"

Helen removed the paddles from John's chest, noting the faint marks left on his pale smooth chest. The random thought drifted through her mind that John's chest no sooner healed from one injury than he got another. The scars of Tesla's torture were now near invisible unless the observe knew exactly where and what to look for, as were the scars from Ashley's claws, just as the ones on Helen's own arm had healed quickly and well.

Helen looked up at the observation window where he saw that Jack still had his arms wrapped around Ashley, but whether he was restraining or supporting was debatable. "He's alive." She told her daughter with a smile.

"And that thing has a new home." Henry said, backing away from the unit, "All systems are stable for the moment." He told Helen, "But Tosh and I are going to stay for an hour or so to monitor it just to be sure."

"Let's move John up to the infirmary." Helen said and Owen help her manoeuvre the gurney out of the room. Ashley was at her side the moment she was out of the room. "I'm going to keep him sedated for a while longer." Helen told her, "His body has been through a several traumas in the past fortnight, it needs time to recover."

Ashley nodded, Jack joined them in the elevator while Will and the Big Guy disappeared though to where no one knew. They went to one of the more privet rooms off the main infirmary, one that Helen had set up in advance for just this purpose. Ironically it was the exact same one that Ashley had been put in when she'd collapsed after her and Henry's rescue from the Cabal facility they had tried to infiltrate.

Helen administered an additional sedative and connected John up to several monitors, his breathing was steady and regular but his heart was causing her a little concern. Although the rhythm was steady it was weaker than Helen would have liked but that was only to be expected when it had been stopped twice in less than two weeks. Added to that was the unknown possibility of any additional trauma caused by the exit and return of the parasite.

Just as she was finishing setting up the monitors Helen suddenly felt a wave of dizziness and exhaustion wash over her, she would have collapsed if Owen hadn't caught her. "Right, now you rest." He said firmly.

"I'm fine." Helen said, shaking her head to try and clear it but even she knew that was a lie. Now that the parasite was removed and John was safe, the adrenalin she had been running on for a week was gone and she felt like she could sleep while still standing.

"And the sky is green Helen." Jack said.

"No need to ridicule me Jack. I need to be here in case something happens." She insisted.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Owen replied, "I'm more than capable of handling any thing that might come up and unlike you, I literally cannot sleep."

"I need to be here." Helen insisted. Ashley understood exactly what her mother meant, Helen knew she wasn't needed for medical purposes, her desire to stay came completely from personal reasons. After so long without John and coming so close to loosing him again, Helen didn't want to leave his side unless there was no choice and even then there would probably need to be a weapon involved.

Owen understood that too, "There's plenty of other beds here. That way you'll be woken if one of the monitors goes off." The last part Owen doubted, Helen Magnus looked dead on her feet, even more so than he did and that was saying something. The poor woman would probably sleep through an apocalypse and by Owen's reckoning Torchwood were due for another one of those.

Rather than allow Helen to argue, Jack guided her to the bed next to John's and forced her to lie down. Tenderly Ashley covered her mother with a blanket, "Get some rest mom."

"Aren't I supposed to be the one tucking you in?" Helen asked, fighting back a yawn. While it was true she usually slept little it was also true that she did need sleep, she was still human after all. And with the recent troubles she had pushed herself beyond what she had previous thought was her limit, but with such a tempting prize, the possibility of her John been returned to her, she had found that she could not sleep.

She was vaguely away of Owen setting the machines to feed patient information to a PDA he slipped into his pocket while Jack and Ashley discussed retrieving Kate and Ianto from Egypt before all three of them left the room.

Helen lay on her side looking over at John, he looked so peaceful she wondered when the last time she had seen him like that was. Only two occasions came to mind, once so long ago in Oxford when all the male members of the Five had fallen asleep in her lab while she ran one of her longer experiments. The second was the night they made love for the first time.

Wondering if they would be able to recapture those early days once again Helen closed her eyes and allowed herself to sleep, dreaming about that possible future.

John felt like he was trying to swim through quicksand as he struggled against the sedatives in his system. He was aware that something was different but it took him a moment to realise what it was. Peace. He felt peaceful, his rage was once again gone. John's insides froze, that meant the demon was free.

John struggled harder to regain consciousness, finally he managed to force his eyes open but was surprised to see one of the infirmary rooms at Helen's Sanctuary. Then he wished he hadn't opened his eyes, his head hurt and his chest didn't feel much better. Ignoring the discomfort he tried to sit up when his gaze shift to one side and he caught sight of Helen's sleeping form.

She looked so beautiful and peaceful that he might have feared her dead had he not noticed the stead rise and fall of her chest. Her presence calmed his fear. If she was sleeping, and she clearly was since unlike him she wasn't hooked up to a variety of machines, then his demon must somehow be contained because she could never be so relaxed if there was danger.

She looks so beautiful and peaceful, one arm curled under the pillow the other hand of the other resting beside her face. There was a blanket tucked around her and John felt a momentary stab of jealously for who ever had done that for her. Once it had been his job, his right and privilege, to take care of her like that, to tuck a blanket around her when she fell asleep in her lab or her father's library in the midst of her research. But even that jealously pleased him because it brought with it no murderous desire, no burning need for the blood of whoever had annoyed him.

Perhaps then, if he was truly as purged as he felt, there could be some hope that Helen might allow them to be together again. His mind was catapulted back to their final night together, a night he very much suspected had gifted them with Ashley. In those easily days the only time the demon slept was when he was in Helen's arms, he'd gazed down at her beautiful innocence as she slept that final night knowing that his sins would cost him his final refuge of peace and sanity.

She hadn't changed much since that night, except her hair colour, indeed she had changed little since that first day they had met in the library at Oxford, when her spirit, intelligence and lively conversation, so rare amongst Victorian women, had captured his attention to the point where he had to know her better and had invited her to take a turn about the grounds with him.

He would have been tempted to get out of bed just to see if her hair was still as smooth as he remembered but for the weakness he felt in every muscle of his body, likely a result of what had been done to remove the demon and whatever tranquillizer Ashley had used on him. He must remember to compliment them on that plan, it was ingenious to use Jones as a decoy.

He could feel unconsciousness rising to claim him again and knowing that it was what his body needed, and that it was safe, he did not fight it. Instead he turned his head so that the last thing he saw before sleep claimed him again was his beloved angel.

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AU: So John is himself again, physically at least. But does that mean it will be plain sailing from here?


	8. Chapter 7

AN: Sorry for the delay, computer issues like you wouldn't belive

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Helen was woken by sound of the door opening and looked up to see Ashley had entered carrying a tray, "Morning mom."

"Morning?" Helen questioned.

"Yeah." Ashley told her, "You slept right through the rest of the day and all night. I brought you breakfast." She placed the tray on the table and helped her mom rearrange the pillow behind her so that she could sit up comfortably. Then she placed the tray on her lap.

Helen was pleased to see that someone had prepared her a continental breakfast rather then the cereal that the younger Sanctuary staff enjoyed so much. Taking a sip of her tea she was also pleased to find that it was Earl Gray. "I can't remember the last time I slept that long."

"You must have needed it." Ashley commented as she sat on the edge of the bed, she saw her mother glance over to where her father was still sleeping so she added. "Don't worry, Owen's been keeping an eye on him. He slept straight through as well. Owen took some scans and found that there was some damage to his heart but it's healing very quickly."

"A side effect of my blood in him and all of The Five had increased healing." Helen explained, taking a bite of her croissant. "So, how is everything in the Sanctuary?"

Ashley smiled, her mother could have lost limbs and her first question would always be about the Sanctuary. "Everything is fine." She assured her mother "We've had a report from the Mumbai Sanctuary that the empaths have settled well after everything that happened. The containment unit is functioning perfectly, according to Henry. The Torchwood team are still here." Ashley said ticking points off on her fingers, "Tosh is hanging around with Henry, Owen's been covering for you as doctor, Gwen's helping with general running. Jack and Will have reported events to the other Heads of House and Ianto handled all your paperwork, he didn't trust Uncle Jack."

"With good reason." Helen told her.

"Oh and Kate's in a bad mood." Ashley finished.

"Why?" Helen asked, wondering what could have annoyed the young woman.

"Well while we were in Cairo we played Poker with a friend of Jack's." She saw the look her mother gave her, "Don't look so worried, Martha was great and she's a doctor with UNIT."

That reassured Helen, she might have trusted Jack completely but some of his friends and acquaintances were debatable, still if this Martha was a doctor and working for UNIT then she should be good. "So what annoyed Kate?"

"Well Martha handed our asses to us." Ashley said matter-of-factly, "So after I brought dad and Jack back here, Kate and Ianto decided to wait at the UNIT base because she wanted a rematch."

"And I assumed she lost again?" Helen guessed.

Ashley laughed, "They both did. If they'd been playing for cash Ianto would have made a fortune."

Helen laughed, "Oh she must be in a fine rage." They had regular poker nights at the Sanctuary, Helen allowed it provided that they didn't play for money, but they'd found that sweets made a very good substitute though they could sometimes result in a hyperactive staff or residents. They could also result in bad moods if someone lost spectacularly, and it was never fun when that person was Kate, or Ashley herself for that matter.

"Did no one teach you uproarious ladies to remain quite around the sleeping or sick?" John was awake and looking over at the two of them.

"You're not sleeping anymore." Ashley pointed out, "Or sick."

"No thanks to you." John said, carefully pushing himself into a sitting position but avoiding entangling himself in the wires that still connected him to the monitors. "And if I weren't sick then it would not feel as if there is a small army marching in my skull."

"You have a head ache?" Helen asked, suddenly concerned. He hadn't had one the first time the creature was removed.

"Owen said he might." Ashley put in, both her parents turned to look at her, "He said it was a side effect of the sedative."

"I would kill the good doctor where he not already dead." John complained, "No Helen stay and finish your breakfast." He added when he noticed that she was about to get out of bed to check on him, "It isn't any worse then one of the hangovers I got at Oxford."

"Oh I remember those." Helen said, "I particularly liked meeting the four of you before our lectures the next morning, when you would all beg me to speak very quietly."

"And you would usually contrive to drop something and make a tremendous din."

Ashley giggled but tried to muffle it out of respect for John's headache, "I should fetch Owen, he wanted to know when you were awake."

"Breakfast would also be appreciated." John called after her as she left, leaving him once again alone with Helen.

She took another sip of her tea, "How are you feeling John?"

"As I said, I would be much better if that army would stop marching." He smiled, "Thank you Helen, I know this was your doing."

"Actually Ashley owns as much of the thanks as I do." Helen admitted, "She's the one who brought Jack and his team here. They helped to come up with the plan."

John interrupted, "But it was you who never gave up Helen. Even when I did, you didn't loose faith that I could be saved."

"I lost you once before John, I wasn't going to again. Especially when I knew it wasn't your fault."

Before John could say anything in response the door was opened and Ashley came back in followed by Owen and Jack. "Look who's finally awake." Owen said, "How are you feeling?"

"Apart from the pounding head ache?" John asked sarcastically, Owen didn't look at all repentant or sorry. "My body aches but not too bad, my chest is worst."

"You're lucky your heart is even beating after been stopped and restarted twice in as many weeks." Owen muttered as he scanned the read outs on the monitors and made a few notes on the clipboard he was carrying. "Everything's okay here." He took John's wrist and checked his pulse manually while muttering about unreliable machines and who they'd blamed if he keeled over. "Pulse is regular but still a little on the weak side. Rest for another twenty-four hours, nothing strenuous including teleporting."

"Understood doctor."

"Breakfast would be a good idea but no coffee." Owen continued, "You body needs time to adjust to not having that creature in it. It's used to the additional strain of supporting a parasite so you might feel physically better than usual but don't push yourself, we're trying to get you body to adjust back to normal metabolic levels rather than keep at such high levels." He shook his head, "Some of your metabolic reading were off the scale, how the hell you were still alive is a mystery to me."

"The Source Blood." Helen suggested.

"Possibly." Owen agreed, "It seems to do everything else. Well all your scans check out, as near as I can tell you're normal again. There's some variation between your brain scans and a normal persons but I'm guessing that's a result of your abnormality. There's just one thing that I can't account for, your muscle density is far greater than it should be."

Helen and John shared a knowing look and he nodded to her so she explained, "Doctor Harper you have just stumbled upon the greatest secret of The Five. John was an abnormal even before the Source Blood." Everyone stared at her and then John in shock. "If you take a closer look at the brain scan you will see a denser than usual concentration of neurons in the area's of the brain responsible for the senses, primarily hearing and sight."

"I told Helen about myself the year after we met." John explained, "My senses started heightening when I was in my teenage years, as did my speed and strength. Helen helped me to understand myself and showed me that I was not a freak."

"Wait a minute." Ashley butted in, "The same thing happened to me in my teens but mom didn't need to help me control it."

"Because I'd begun teaching you from birth Ashley." Helen explained, "I always knew that you might have one or more of your father's gifts but when you showed no evidence of teleporting I correctly assumed that it would be his speed and senses you'd inherited. So I started to instruct and prepare you in small ways, like warning you to always mind you strength and speed when you were playing."

"And you were raised in a home that valued and appreciated difference, something my childhood home did not." John reminded her, "My parents would have been very disapproving if I had shown any indication that I was anything other than a perfectly normal son."

"And were you guys planning on telling me all this?" Ashley snapped, "Or are secrets the only thing this family is good at?" She stormed out the room.

Ianto stepped through the door before it had a chance to full close, "She's not happy." He commented then set the tray he was carrying in front of John, "You're lucky Gwen talked Ashley into a quick shopping trip to the UK, otherwise a full English breakfast would have been impossible." Gwen had had a real craving for a bacon butty but one look at what the Americans called bacon and she had been begging Ashley for a quick trip back to the UK for decent bacon and a few other essentials like digestive biscuits.

"Thank you." John said.

Meanwhile Helen finished her tea, "I should go and talk to Ashley."

Jack shook his head, "No let me go, right now she's mad at the both of you, all that will happen if you go is icy glares or a screaming match."

Helen nodded and Jack left, Ianto following him out. "Do you mind if I have a look over you notes Owen?" Helen asked.

"Sure." Owen said holding them out,"If you hold still while I run some scans."

Helen sighed but didn't argue as Owen moved the scanner over her body. The medical notes she was reading were far more interesting. She'd never been able to obtain scans of John when he wasn't infected, the closest she could come was comparing scans of him and Ashley. Now that she could she could see clear differences that the parasite had caused in him. Sections of his brain that were responsible for emotion and impulse control had been compromised by the creature, Helen had originally taken the dark patches as brain damage. Now they were normal again, still a little darker than they should be, showing that the creature had in fact caused some minor brain damage but according the the scans that Owen had run twelve hours apart that damage was healing slowly on its own. Otherwise there was some damage to his heart but that was also healing.

In short he was the John she had first known once again and soon he would be fully well.

"You're healthy." Owen pronounced, "But don't push yourself that hard again or you're going to end up doing permanent damage."

"You remind me of James." Helen said with a smile, "He was always reminding me that I was still only human. Am I fit to return to work?"

"Just don't push yourself." Owen ordered, knowing that he really didn't have a hope of keeping her in bed without restraints. And as much as he thought it might do her some good, she had far to many friends willing to let her right back out of those restraints if she asked nicely.

"And me doctor?" John asked, he'd already cleared his plate and was sipping his tea.

Owen threw his hands up, "Whatever, but if either of you collapse don't come crying to me. Tosh wants to see you at some point to run some very in depth scans to see if we can find a way to detect the parasite before the host starts to present clinical symptoms."

John was very grateful for the many pleasant afternoons passed at Oxford and later when they debated the latest scientific theories and ideas. It meant that he understood most of the things the doctor said. Even so he was going to have to get his hands on some up to date text books if he wanted to be of any use to Helen. And it was his wish that she would allow him to stay in her House and help her in her work.

"Your clothes are still in your room if you'd like to change." Helen offered.

"That sounds very appealing." John agreed, he was still in the clothes he had been wearing in Egypt and since that was a desert country it meant he had sand in a variety of places, a few of which he hadn't known it was actually possible to get sand in. He put his tray to one side and threw back the covers on his bed, he stood and kept his hand on the bed for a moment to make sure he wasn't going to faint but everything seemed alright, even his headache was easing somewhat. "I will see you later." he told Helen then turned to Owen, "If you could inform Miss Sato that I will see her once I have cleaned up so she can perform her scans."

"Sure." Owen agreed, after John had left he turned to Helen, "You might want to get cleaned up as well." He suggested since she was still wearing the clothes she had been the previous day.

"You're right." Helen told him, "I'll need to review his scans after Toshiko has run them."

"I've already taken a look at the pre-removal ones." Owen told her as they walked through the corridors towards Helen's rooms. "They're fascinating."

"I imagine they are." Helen agreed, "I could never get John to submit for scans."

"The data is all in the system" Owen informed her. "I hadn't got anything to compare them to but his amygdala showed up far darker then it should be."

"That would usually indicate brain damage," Helen said, "But if his latest scan indicate nothing out of the ordinary then we can conclude that the darkened area was caused by the parasite."

Owen agreed, "From the look of his scan his entire limbic system is compromised, which would make emotional control difficult to say the least. On top of that there was decreased activity in the prefrontal cortex, which would mean that he'd find it harder to control violent impulses. The two combined." Owen shook his head.

"Would be catastrophic." Helen filled in, "Fortunately none of Ashley's scans have ever even hinted at that sort of thing so it seems fairly certain that it was caused by the parasite. The only abnormalities in her scans are increased neuron density in the parts if the brain dealing with sight, hearing and motor control. When we got her back from the Cabal I also found new tissue growth that bridged between hippocampus, cerebellum and connected up to the pre-motor and motor cortex."

"I saw the same in Druitt's scans." Owen confirmed.

"That's the problem in my line of work, Dr Harper." Helen said as they reached her door, "With so many abnormalities been represented by only one individual you never know for certain what deviations from standard are due to the abnormality and what are irrelevant by-product."

"Yeah, cos I'm always certain that the alien on my table is a one hundred percent typical and normal example of the species."

"You're right of course." Helen allowed, after all if there were abnormal on Earth then it stood to reason that there were abnormals amongst the other species in the galaxy. "Will you join me in going over the scans in my office?"

"Of course." Owen told her with a smirk, "It's nice to have some else to discuss the medical stuff with, someone who doesn't go green."

"You should have seen Will at first." Helen commented as she opened her door and went into her room.

"Ashley wait!" Jack called out for the third time. She still didn't listen and Jack didn't want to press her too hard in case she decided to teleport to avoid him, instead he just followed her, knowing she'd stop and talk when she was ready. Or too exhausted to keep going but he really hoped it was the former.

Eventually the ended up on top of the North Tower, a place Jack had found was a favoured haunt of the Magnus women when they wanted to think. "You ready to talk yet?" He asked as Ashley stood right on the very edge of one of the raised sections, wasn't overly concerned Ashley had always had a head for heights and excellent balance. Plus if she fell she could teleport herself to safety.

"Do I get a choice?" She asked.

"Not really." Jack admitted as he climbed up as well so they were both looking out over the city.

They stood in silence for several more minutes, just looking out over the Sanctuary and the city beyond. Finally Ashley decided to talk. "Would it kill them to tell me the truth just once?"

"I don't think they deliberately kept this from you Ashley. You've always known you were an abnormal." Jack pointed out.

"No I always knew my mom was an abnormal and I had abnormal DNA, I never knew I was one." Ashley growled, "It wouldn't have taken one of them ten seconds to mention it."

"Okay stop for a second and think about it." Jack insisted, "We'll start with your father who is, ironically, the most innocent in this. How was he supposed to know that Helen hadn't already told you?" Jack asked, "And then after they got you back he was too busy teaching you to control your new gift to think that you might not know about one that, as far as he could tell, you'd had under control for years. Plus that creature wasn't helping matters, he was already battling for control when we found you, that's why he came to me and asked me to kill him when the time came."

"Doesn't excuse mom." Ashley pointed out.

"She was trying to protect you Ashley." Jack reminded her, "She swore James and I to secrecy, no one else knew who your father was. She believed he was gone forever but can you imagine what it would have done to you to be told when you started developing your speed, strength and senses?"

"She didn't have to tell me who my father was, just that he was an abnormal." Ashley insisted.

"And you wouldn't have pushed further? You wouldn't have pestered her until she told you everything? You wouldn't have come to me or James with your questions?" Ashley stayed quiet, they both knew that was exactly what she would have done, and probably in that order too. "And what would it have done to you if one of us had let slip about Jack the Ripper? If you found out that you shared your gifts with an infamous serial killer?"

"It was hard enough finding out I shared DNA with him." Ashley admitted, "If I'd known sooner then I would have been terrified of my gifts, I'd have been scared to pick up a gun or knife in case I went crazy."

"Your father didn't know and your mother only wanted to protect you."

Ashley nodded, "You're right Uncle Jack." She agreed, "But someone should have told me."

"I thought you already knew." Jack admitted.

"We need to work on communication in this family." Ashley said, "That and not killing each other."

"It'll be better now." Jack told her, "You and John are both free." He put his arm around her shoulders, mindful of the gap between them. What he didn't tell her was the trouble brewing in the Network. That some of the other Heads of House were beginning to question Helen's judgement. It had been very evident when he and Will were briefing them while Helen slept. One of the men, an abnormal named Terence, had openly questioned Helen's decision to allow John his freedom now the creature had been removed. He wanted him confined indefinitely for study. The fact that John would probably choose to stay at Helen's Sanctuary hadn't featured in his reasoning.

Terence also wasn't happy about Ashley's freedom and would probably have liked to see her confined right next to her father but he knew better then to say anything during the conference. Ashley had too many friends amongst the other Heads of House, most had seen her grow up. They had read Helen's report on the Cabal control and were perfectly happy to allow Ashley to regain her place in the main Sanctuary and the Global Network since they understood that she had been nothing more than an pawn, a mindless puppet for the Cabal to play with, to use and abuse as they saw fit.

In Jack's opinion Terence had been on an ego trip every since Helen made him a Head of House and fairly soon things were going to come to a head, Jack just hoped that there were no casualties other than the man's ego but that didn't seem likely.

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Please R&R


	9. Chapter 8

AN: Sorry for the delay, I just started a new job and it's taken a couple of weeks to adjust, plus the on going internet/computer problems. Oh and how annoyed am I that in the UK season three has been moved from ITV4 to Watch, which I don't get cos I don't have Sky or Virgin. So fingers crossed for Youtube!

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John was only slightly surprised to see that his room in the guest accommodation hadn't changed at all since the last time he'd visited. There were still changes of clothing in the wardrobe and the bed was neatly made. Taking a change of clothes from the wardrobe John headed into the bathroom and began filling the tub, sure there was a shower but he'd always felt that a man needed a bath to be truly clean. Plus a good soak would hopefully help with his sore muscles.

As the tub filled he stripped off his dirty clothes and placed them in the basket intended for that purpose. Then he slipped into the hot water and sighed in pleasure. He could feel his muscles relax as the heat of the water penetrated them.

He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so relaxed but he had a feeling that it wasn't in the last century. The demon was gone, forever with any luck, Helen was still speaking to him and hopefully once Ashley calmed down she would be as well. He had honestly thought she already knew about his natural abnormality, the one she had always shared with him. After all she had controlled it perfectly well.

He could understand why Helen would keep it from her, the truth would make everything more complicated and no doubt the longer she kept the secret the harder it became to tell it. She must have swore James to secrecy, although he hadn't originally known about John's natural abnormality it hadn't taken long after the experiment with the Source Blood for Watson to work it out. If Harkness had known, and John rather suspected he had, then he too must have also been sworn to secrecy.

John spent several long minutes reflecting on his family. Months ago, before the demon had begun to once again grow too strong to be denied, Ashley had begun to accept him. He could still remember the immeasurable joy that had gone through him after Ashley had first woken. She had called him 'dad', he had never hoped for such familiar acceptance from his daughter.

He wondered if there would ever be any hope for him and Helen. Once they had been so happy together, so alive with their love for each other. Then the demon had come and taken all that from them, it had stolen the future they had planned together and it had stolen the first twenty-four years of his daughter's life from him.

They had planned such a wonderful future, they would marry and together build the research facility her father had planned in his journals. Her dream had been not just for research but a home for the abnormals, John's own experience had taught them how frightening it could be to not know what was happening to you and to have no one to help you control it.

Eventually they would have a family and their children would be raised within the Sanctuary and eventually help them to run it if that was their wish. Helen wanted to travel the world and discover all the variety of life there was to be found. John had wanted to teach and help the abnormals live in the outside world where that was possible, he wanted to help others learn the wonders that Helen would discover.

The one unifying theme of their plans was that they would be together. That was what the demon had taken from them. Helen's life had ended up been close to their plan. She had founded her Sanctuary, even expended it to a global network, she had travelled the world and taught her findings to others to help them follow in her footsteps. She had even raised their daughter as they had once planned and Ashley had become a key element in her mother's work.

The only thing missing was him.

John hoped he could make a place for himself in Helen's house. He still loved her more than anything and with the demon gone it was safe for him to be near her once again. The intervening decades and the atrocities he had committed might have ended her love for him, and he really feared they had, but he still loved her and wanted to be near her. As masochistic as that might seem, for him the true pain and punishment would be in been exiled from her presence and forbidden to see their daughter.

Perhaps, John thought as he enjoyed the way the heat of the bath soothed the aches and pains in his muscles, she would one day come to love him again.

Helen took a quick shower, as much as she wanted to linger or better yet take a long soothing bath, there was too much she needed to do. The other Heads needed to be briefed, she needed to contact Mumbai to check on the empaths, she had several patients she needed to check up on and a few possible cases she should be looking into.

And despite all that her only thoughts were for John Druitt.

The way he had looked at her had all but stopped her heart, it was a look she had once been very familiar with but had not seen, not in such a pure form, for a hundred years. He had looked at her like she was the centre of his universe.

He still loved her, he had said as much before he took the parasite back, the question was: Did she still love him?

In the beginning her feelings for John had been so simple; friendship that had quickly turned into love. Then came what she now knew was the parasite and though she wished she could say that her feelings him had died they hadn't. Betrayal and hatred had eclipsed the love but they had not removed it completely. After Nikola had first shocked the parasite in dormancy those feelings of love had begun to resurface.

Then Ashley had been taken and they had spent so much time together trying to find her. She'd had to fight to maintain the distance between them when all she had wanted to do was draw closer to him once again and have him hold her. But she had told herself she couldn't do it because she still didn't know if she could trust him. When he reverted to his former ways she had thought she'd been proved correct in her choice.

Now they knew about the parasitic abnormal and she knew that the blame had to lay there. When they were locked in that cell she had told him it would be too easy to lay all the blame at the, metaphorical, feet of the parasite but having seen the extreme change in personality that taking the creature back had caused and seeing what the creature had tried to do during the hour or so it was free, she could now firmly say that if anything John had been a restraint on it. Without him far more would have died.

Still she couldn't yet allow herself to love him, she decided as she dried off and dressed. So much had happened and she needed time to process it all. Time to decide if she still wanted the future she had once planned with John. And time for him to decide if he wanted the same.

Once he eventually dragged himself from the bath and redressed, John went in search of Toshiko. He was unsurprised to find her with Henry in the young man's work space. They were discussing something at a mile a minute and occasionally gesturing at the diagrams that filled the computer screams in front of them.

"I believe you wished to see me Miss Sato." John said by way of announcing his presence. He was inwardly pleased to see that his presence still had the ability to make Henry jump out of his skin. Quiet an achievement considering the younger man was a werewolf.

"Will you stop doing that?" Henry complied, "You're as bad as Ashley."

"Strange, you always seem far more pleased to see Ashley, regardless of how she appears." John enjoyed watching the werewolf turn several different shades of red, so it seemed that Mr Foss's affection for his daughter had not changed over the past few months. Interesting.

"If you would come with me?" Toshiko asked, slightly hesitantly and John wondered just how long his presence was going to continue terrifying everyone he came across. He followed the Japanese woman into another room and spent the next half hour been scanned, poked and prodded by a variety of instruments. He took it all willingly enough since he knew it would hopefully prevent them having to go through all this again, be he was getting very tired of it all when Toshiko finally said that she had everything she needed. She told him that the results of the scans would be sent to Helen so she and Owen could go over them and hopefully find a way to detect the parasite before the host went homicidal.

With nothing else to do John took the opportunity to walk around the grounds of the Sanctuary. He eventually found himself in the ruined chapel. He had never before set foot there, it hadn't held any appeal to the man he was while the demon was inside of him. It did now.

Silently he took a seat in one of the pews that Helen had decided to preserve. He had never been a particularly religious man, none of the Five had, but that said he was a product of his times so he had a measure of faith in God. It was surprisingly peaceful the ruined chapel, especially since he knew that under his feet was the Main Lab of the Sanctuary.

The quiet of the place encouraged reflection and John found his mind straying to Nigel and James. Nigel would never know about the demon that had possessed him, would never know that it wasn't his friend John who had committed crimes too heinous be bear thinking about. And John would never be able to make his peace with Nigel as he had with James. Even though James hadn't known that his murderous ways were caused by an abnormal parasite he had at least known that John had changed, that he was once again the friend he had originally been. They had been able to make their peace before the end.

John raised his eyes to the roof, which was only half there, and to the sky beyond. Were James and Nigel out there somewhere, in the afterlife, watching over those who they had left behind. Did they now both know the truth and forgive him? Would he be able to see them again when he eventually died or had the sins of the demon damned his soul to hell?

He looked back down at his hands and found his thoughts once again straying to more Earth bound things. Would he be able to make a place for himself in Helen's House? He didn't have any great knowledge of modern technology nor science. He could fight, as much as he might dislike the origin of his knowledge in that area, but Helen already had Ashley and Kate for that need.

He could help her with research, that was something he had once been very good at, he had the patience needed to spend hours pouring over texts looking for the one key piece of information they needed. Patience that not even Helen and James had when it came to their books. Both minds could devise experiments and piece information together but when it came to finding one scrap of information amongst thousands they could both become frustrated. Though John had to admit that a century did seem to have taught Helen patience, James had never been good at that, he liked to get straight to the point and move on.

He'd never had the time for the detailed recording that a true researcher needed, his great mind could store all the information he needed so why bother with pen and paper? The fact that it sometimes left his friends baffled didn't bother him too much. Nigel hadn't been one for detailed recoding or research either, nor had Tesla unless it related to his own work.

John had always been prepared to help Helen in her note taking since it meant they could spend hours together in her lab. It was a socially acceptable why for them to spend time alone, well as socially acceptable as a female scientist could be at that time. John had endured quite a bit of teasing about that outside of the Five, society's view was that if Helen insisted on working in science then she should be his assistant. He'd had a rough couple of years between that and the rumour about his sexuality his parents had started to try and separate him and Helen, they really hadn't approved of their engagement and hoped the embarrassment would cause Helen to leave him.

It hadn't worked, but his anger and frustration at his family probably hadn't helped when the demon had infected him.

He thought of Ashley and tried to imagine doing the same to her. Starting a vicious rumour and slandering her name just because he didn't approve of her choice in husband. He couldn't see himself doing it, he might try to talk her our of it, advise her against it but ultimately if she was in love and happy then he would allow the union, after first informing the young man of the penalty he could expect if he hurt her. Of course the entire scenario was rather hard to picture in the first place since it involved Ashley in a wedding dress and the most feminine thing John had yet seen her in was a necklace.

As if summoned by his thoughts he heard his daughter say, "Mind if I join you?" He turned to see her standing behind him.

"Not at all." He slid further down the pew to allow her to sit next to him. "I was just thinking."

"Yeah this place tends to make you do that." Ashley agreed as she sat down. "I don't come here much anymore, not since mom told me they held my memorial service here. It's a little creepy."

"I can imagine." John said, remembering when he had read the news reports of his own supposed death by drowning in the Themes, no doubt manufactured by James Watson and Helen, possibly with Nigel and Tesla's help. The vampire would have taken great delight in faking his death, he'd probably just wished it was real.

"What are you going to do now?" Ashley asked, looking down at her hands.

"What do you mean?"

"You're free of the parasite, you can go anywhere, do anything." Ashley filled in, not looking up at him.

"I want the life I always planned." John told her, "But I don't know if it's possible."

"Why not?" Ashley asked.

"Because that life was planned a long time ago and the world has changed since then." John told her, "I always planned to stay by your mother's side, help her in her work and raise our family. But she doesn't need me for any of that anymore, she's built her dream and raised you without me."

"That was your plan?" Ashley asked.

"I didn't know about you, not until after you were born, but yes that was always the plan." John agreed, "Now I must try to make a place for myself in a world that is quite alien to me."

"Do you remember everything from when your were that thing's host?"

"Yes." John said sadly. "Doesn't mean that I know how anything works or the details of this world, after all I used to just bully people into doing want I wanted."

"You can learn." Ashley told him.

"I can." John agreed then he paused and thought for a moment. "Do you think your mother can accept me?"

Ashley considered how to phrase her answer for a moment. "After you left again, mom went to the library and started researching how to help you, she didn't stop to eat or sleep and shouted at anyone who disturbed her. She was so focused on finding a way to help you that she only stopped when I brought Jack and his team to help. She drove Henry and Tosh crazy by checking on their progress every hour." Ashley paused for a moment to compose her thoughts, "I think that she couldn't let you go, even when she had to kill you to save herself she still brought you back. Now she knows it wasn't you she'll want you back but I don't know." Ashley hesitated unable to find exactly the right way to phrase her thoughts.

"You don't know if we can be what we once were again or if we can only be friends." John guessed, Ashley nodded, relived that he had understood what she was trying to say. "Thank you Ashley, you have given me more to think about."

"You're welcome," Ashley said as she stood, "Though if you want a clue about mom's feelings you should ask her about the radio."

With that she left, leaving a rather bemused John to wonder what the hell she had been talking about. His peace didn't last for long tough as soon enough William found him.

"How are you doing?" He asked as he stood at the end of the pew.

"Better than I have in some time." John admitted. "I am myself once again and no long feel the need to spill the blood of everyone around me."

Will obviously took the fact that he answered as an invitation to stay and sat down on the pew. "Ashley's worried about you." He told the older man. "She's worried that you don't think you have a place in the world and that you feel the guilt of all the deaths the creature caused."

"Of course I feel guilt Doctor Zimmerman." John said, "I should have done more to stop it. And don't worry I will find a place for myself. Now if you'll excuse me?" He said standing, Will was forced to stand to allow him to pass.

As he was walking out of the chapel Will called after him, "You aren't going to find your place unless you make your peace with that happened." Then in a lower voice that John assumed he wasn't meant to hear the psychiatrist muttered, "Just like Magnus." John wasn't exactly sure how he was just like Helen but from the other man's tone of voice it was not supposed to be a complement.

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Please R&R


	10. Chapter 9

AN: Just the epilouge to go after this one and this chapter is dedicated to Livhanna over on Youtube, the only reason I am watching season 3 at all.

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Helen was worried about John, first Ashley and then Will had brought their concerns to her. Having no one else to turn to she sought out Jack. The Torchwood team were taking a day's R&R, the girls had gone shopping and dragged Ianto along as a pack-mule. Owen was buried somewhere in the library, as he didn't need to eat or sleep he had been in there since he'd helped Helen study John's scans and he showed no signs of leaving anytime before someone dragged him out so they could go back to Cardiff.

Helen found Jack sitting under a tree out in the grounds. "Do you mind if I join you?" She asked.

Jack patted the ground beside him, "Not at all." Helen sank to the grass beside him, folding her legs in a proper ladylike fashion. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm worried about John." Helen admitted. "Both Ashley and Will came to see me, they said he's got some serious guilt issues and that he's worried about finding a place in the modern world."

Jack suppressed a laugh at that last part, unless he was very much mistaken the only place John wanted to make a place for himself was Helen's bed. But he decided that he'd better keep his mouth shut. Besides guilt was a subject he knew all to well. "He'll be fine Helen." Jack assured her. "He has to be to have survived so many years of holding that parasite at bay. If he was mentally strong enough for that then I have no doubt that he'll be strong enough to live with the guilt." Jack put his arm around Helen's shoulders and pulled her so she was resting against his chest

"How do you feel about him?" He asked her.

"I don't know."

"Liar." Jack told her. "The truth Helen."

Helen sighed, she should have known better than to even try and lie to Jack, he'd known her too long. "What if I say that I don't know if I dare to feel for him again."

"That's more like it." Jack said, "You don't know if you can dare to love him?" He felt rather than saw Helen nod. "I decided that I couldn't fall in love again." John admitted, "It hurt too much when they left or died, then I met Ianto. It started off as just physical and then became more. You know I was away for a few months?"

"Yes, you never did say where you were."

Jack closed his eyes as memories of The Year That Never Was flashed through his mind. In addition to the deaths of his entire team, the Master had found out about the Sanctuary Network and destroyed them all. James Watson had committed suicide rather than allow the Master to capture him. Helen had been captured and tortured to death in front of him. The only mercy that Jack could see was that he never knew Ashley's fate in that alternate timeline.

Forcing the memories away Jack said, "It doesn't matter, what matters is that it was hell and while I was there I realised that love is what made life worthwhile. That's what made me decide to give this thing between me and Ianto a chance. And I haven't regretted it."

"Are you telling me to love him?" Helen asked, pulling away from Jack so that she could look at him.

"No," Jack said, "I wouldn't even think about telling the great Helen Magnus what to do." He added with a laugh. "I am merely suggesting that you give him a chance, that you give yourself a chance. Don't try to stop yourself from loving him because you're scared of the past, I did that and all you're left with is regrets."

"Thanks Jack." Helen said with a soft smile, "Do you really think that John will be alright?"

"Of course he will." Jack reassured her. "With you and Ashley as incentives any man would have an awful lot to encourage him to be alright. You should go talk to him." He urged her, "He's probably got as many worries as you do."

"I think I will Jack." Helen agreed. "But I am curious about what you're doing out here all by yourself."

"Do you know how rarely I get to just sit and relax under a tree?"

Helen smiled as Jack leant back against the trunk of the tree and closed his eyes with an exaggerated sigh of contentment. "I would guess the answer is not often if ever. I'll leave you to your peace." Helen said as she rose to her feet and walked back inside.

Jack had given her a lot to think about. She was grateful for his reassurance and his belief that John would be alright and would be able to deal with the guilt for his acts while he was a host to the parasite. The other things he'd said, about the regret, also gave her pause for thought. If there was one thing she'd been reminded of all too often over the past year it was that human and abnormal alike they were all still mortal, and their line of work was risky. Even if John didn't choose to stay with the Sanctuary there were still plenty out there who remembered what he had been and knew who he was related to. If he were to die tomorrow would she be able to live with the guilt of knowing that she had never given them a chance?

Jack had obviously decided that he couldn't and that time with Ianto was worth the pain that would come when he lost him. And for Jack that loss was certain, he couldn't die and so would loose everyone in the end, and in Torchwood the end came sooner rather than later. Ianto had already cheated death once, Helen hadn't known that anyone had made it out of Canary Wharf alive, how many more times would he be able to? How long until Jack lost another lover?

For herself though, Helen knew that, if he died tomorrow, she would not be able to live with the knowledge that she hadn't given her and John another chance. But at the same time she couldn't just jump back into bed with him, as her daughter would have to eloquently put it. Unsure of what to do next Helen went in search of John.

When she didn't find him quickly she stopped off him Henry's workspace, which for once was not inhabited by the resident werewolf, and checked the security cameras.

That was how she found him. He was in the SHU, standing outside the cell that housed the parasite. He was still there when she joined him. He didn't turn or acknowledge her but simply said, "It seems so strange that such evil can be contained in so small a device."

Helen looked through the viewing window. It wasn't that small a device, it took up a third of the floor space in the room, but she supposed that to John it no doubt seemed small. He'd never been a big fan of technology, likely a result of his dislike of and rivalry with Tesla who had been as obsessed with the then modern technology when they were at Oxford as he now was with resurrecting the vampires.

Then again to John the parasite was a demon sent from hell to torment and destroy him, Helen supposed that if she felt as he did then any container would seem small to something like that. "It is contained that is the important thing. How are you doing John?"

"Better than I have been in a very long time." John told her, "My mind is so clear, so calm that the feeling is almost alien to me." He looked away from the containment unit and towards Helen. "I came to see for myself that it was contained, though I do not understand the mechanics behind how it is so, but I am happy that it is. I stayed to think."

"What about?"

"The future, my place in it." He said, he reached out to stroke her cheek. "Us." He allowed his hand to cup her face gently and Helen resisted the urge to shiver at his touch. It had been so long since he had touched her with such tender love and devotion. A life time or more. "Is there any hope for us?" He asked her softly.

"I don't know John." Helen said as she lifted her hand so that it covered his where it still rested on her cheek. "So much has happened, too much for us to ever go back to how we once were." She took his hand from her face but kept hold of it, looking up she saw the resignation and hopelessness in his eyes. "But perhaps we can find a new way to be."

She saw the faint look of hope on his face, "Can I take this to mean that you still have feelings for me?"

"I do John." Helen said, "But I think we both need time."

"Perhaps." John agreed, "Will you allow me to court you and hopefully win your heart as I did once before?"

"You may." Helen said with a smile as John lifted her hand and kissed it.

"Thank you." John told her, "However I fear that I must leave, at least for a short time." He saw the startled and almost scared look on Helen's face so he reassured her. "Do not be frightened I merely need to make my peace, I believe that is what your Doctor Zimmerman called it. I am not about to go off on another killing spree, that part of me is now contained in the room next to us."

"Let me come with you John." Helen asked.

John shook his head, "No Helen, I believe this is one of those things I must do by myself but if it will make you feel better I will carry the cell phone you gave me at all times, I believe Mr Foss has ways to track it."

Helen nodded, "If you really think you have to do this John I won't try and stop you but please stay the night, I know it would mean a lot to Ashley." And me, she didn't add the final part aloud but it still hung in the air between them.

"As you wish." John agreed, "And when this is over I will come back, that is if I have a place here?"

"You'll always have a place here John." Helen promised him, "And I understand why you need to do this but I still don't like the idea of you leaving so soon."

John sighed, "I must Helen but I will return in a few days, you have my word on that." He smiled, "And then we will see if this time I can manage all eternity." He added as he kissed her hand once again.

Helen smiled and then remembered the other reason she had been looking for John originally, "I wanted to give you something." She told him and pulled a photograph from her pocket before handing it to him.

John looked at the picture then up at Helen, then down at the picture again as what he had seen fully registered in his brain and he had to double check he hadn't imagined it. No, as it turned out he hadn't, the photograph did in fact show their daughter, looking the same age she was now and wearing a Victorian-era dress. "How on earth did you get a picture like this?"

"It's a very long story." Helen started as she steered them out of the SHU and towards her office. "It started when I sent Ashley to Jack's for a fortnight."

Ashley was not happy when John informed her he would be leaving for a few days. The current arrangement was that he would take the Torchwood team back to Cardiff and then depart, but he promised he would be back within a week. That seemed to liven her up, as did the computer games tournament that Kate suggested, Sanctuary verses Torchwood John found himself mildly baffled by the whole discussion, but then he could scarcely manage a computer. Which was why he grabbed Henry as they were leaving the dinning room

"Mr Foss, a moment please."

Henry was suddenly very terrified, sure he knew intellectually that the thing that had made John Druitt a psychopath was locked up downstairs but he was also Ashley's father and had no doubt noticed Henry's feelings for her. "Yes?"

John's next words shocked Henry into silence, "I need your help."

"Err sure." Henry said not exactly sure if there was another response he could give, "What do you need?"

"Two things, first the location of Nigel Griffin's grave." That should be fairly easy John thought, no doubt the younger man had found it while trying to track down Nigel's descendent. The second part of slightly harder to actually say aloud. "Second I would like your help in procuring something for Helen and Ashley, although I would once have had no problem with finding roses for the ladies this is unfortunately a difference city, country and time. Thus I am slightly out of my depth."

Henry probably couldn't have been more shocked if John had asked him to dress in drag. "Sure man." Henry said, "Come with me." He led the older man through the house until they found a computer. "I know a place, I order a lot of flowers for Magnus, you know how the boss likes them."

"That I do." John agreed. "There should be sufficient on this to pay for them." He added pulling his bank card from his back pocket.

"Do I even want to know where you got that?" Henry asked and then looked away as he remembered who he was talking to.

"I was once quite wealthy and a hundred years of interest is quite a substantial amount." John told him as they reached one of the labs that had a computer, "I would prefer that Helen not know about it."

"Whatever." Henry muttered as he booted up the computer and logged on, he also wondered how he always seemed to end up keeping things from Magnus Usually it was for Ashley when she'd sneak out but now it seemed he'd be doing it for her father as well. "Here we go." Henry added as the website he wanted loaded, "What do you want?"

"They do custom bouquets I trust?" Henry nodded. "Then I would like two bouquets of a dozen roses each."

"Alright." Henry said as he pulled up the order form and began filling it in. "What colour?" John pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to the werewolf "Hey this is pretty specific, do these have a special meaning or something?"

"Perhaps." John neither agreed nor disagreed so Henry took it to mean that he's been right, "Can they be delivered here tomorrow afternoon?"

"After you've left?" John nodded. "Easy." Henry tapped some more commands into the website. "Do you want to add a message?"

"The flowers are the message Mr Foss, I fear the subtleties of communication are lost on the modern generation."

"Whatever." Henry said wondering if that was an insult or if it was just Druitt been a Victorian again, Magnus could get like that sometimes as well. "Done, I just need your card." John handed it over without any concern and Henry charged the two bouquets to his account, and they weren't cheep either. He closed down the internet program and called up the file he'd created while searching for Anna Griffin. He found the section he wanted and hit print. "There." He said handing the paper to John. "That's the graveyard where Nigel Griffin was buried, past that I'm afraid you'll have to find him the old fashioned way, look."

"Old fashioned still has it's uses." He reminded the younger man

"Well Helen it was an absolute pleasure to see you again." Jack was saying, John had already taken Gwen and Owen back to Cardiff, Tosh was supposed to have gone as well but she'd had some last minute things to take care of with Henry, the two of them were still taking and noting things down on his tablet. The current arrangement was that Ashley would take Tosh back to Cardiff while John transported Jack and Ianto

"Yes it has." Helen agreed "But it does always seem to be the most dire circumstances that bring us together Jack."

"Torchwood don't do many other kinds." Jack pointed out as he hugged her "Stay safe Helen, and keep your team safe as well."

"I will do Jack, and you do the same." Helen ordered him. Jack nodded and took a step back to allow John to say his goodbyes.

"I will be back within a week." He promised.

"I know you will John." Helen assured him but everyone could see how unhappy she was at his leaving The only person who looked more unhappy was Ashley. "Just keep yourself safe please, self preservation was never a skill we seemed to posses." She reminded him with a smile.

"That's because we were young and like all young people we believed ourselves immortal and invulnerable."

"Didn't you gentlemen come up with a rather drunken song along those lines?"

"I believe we did." John said, then he caught a look from Ashley and realised that when they had first meet he had told her part of the song but since she hadn't recognised it he was going to assume that Helen had never seen fit to inform her of it. "And that reminds me, Ashley said I should ask you about the radio." He was surprised when she blushed, "You don't have to tell me."

"No I will." Helen said, "It was the morning after you" She hesitated for a moment then continued, "After you had to leave there was a song on the radio I didn't like and I'm afraid that I decided to turn it off by throwing it at the wall, I assume it is now in the trash."

"Oh hell no." Henry spoke up from from where he and Tosh were putting the finishing touches to whatever it was they were working on, "I thought I'd get it framed as the only time Dr Magnus ever lost control." Helen debated losing control again, at least as much as it took to throw something at Henry this time.

With everyone having finally said their goodbyes, and Tosh been hauled away from Henry and reminded that they could finish whatever world domination scheme they had over the phone or by email, John and Ashley teleported the remaining Torchwood team back to Cardiff.

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AN: As I said this story is almost finished, there are one or two others, one is a Torchwood/Sanctuary crossover (and would explain the story of Ashley in a dress), another is pure Sanctuary (John and Helen gettign together). What do people think? Post or not?


	11. Epilouge

AN: Sorry about the delay I have no excuse, or at least no good excuse.

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"Delivery for you." The Big Guy walked into Helen's office where the Sanctuary head was discussing a mission with Ashley. In each hand he carried a bouquet of roses. Helen smiled when she saw them, she knew who they were from without even having to ask. The Big Guy handed one to Ashley and one to Helen, "The deliveryman didn't say who they were from but it was the place we usually order flowers from."

"They're from John." Helen said with a smile as she inspected the assortment of colours. The main colour of the dozen roses was dark pink but there were six roses mixed in that were a variety of colours.

"How do you know?" Ashley asked, "There's no card." Her roses were also predominantly pink though in two different shades, but there were other colours as well, including a single white rose still in bud.

Helen smiled again, looking over the arrangement her daughter held, "He sent me flowers often at Oxford, each flower has a different meaning so they can be used by lovers to send secret messages, in those days it was one of the few acceptable ways to send such messages of love. With roses the message is in the colours."

"So what do these mean?" Ashley asked, looking from her flowers to her mother and back again.

"The dark pink is for gratitude and the light pink is for gladness. The yellow is the promise of a new beginning. Peach means sincerity." Helen smiled, "I'm sure you know that red is for love but with the white bud next to it, which is a symbol for girlhood, it means a paternal love rather than anything else. He's telling you that he's grateful for everything and he truly wishes to make a new start as your father."

Ashley could feel the tears in her eye but she refused to let them fall, to distract herself she turned her attention to her mother's flowers, which she noticed were far more colourful than hers "So what do yours mean." She noticed her mother blushed slightly at that and pressed her, "Come on mom, tell me."

Helen relented, she knew what her daughter would be like if she didn't, she'd never hear the end of it "Fine, the dark pink and yellow mean the same as in yours, gratitude and a new beginning. The dark red means he loves me and that was also the colour of a first rose he ever gave me. Purple is the colour of royalty and also means enchantment, while orange means fascination."

"What about these two?" Ashley asked pointing to two her mother did not mention.

Helen knew there would be no getting out of it, "The yellow with red tips means friendship turning to love, they were going to be at our wedding. And unless I am mistaken this is coral." She added pointing to the last rose. "Which symbolises desire."

Ashley grinned, "So basically yours means 'thank you, I love you and I want you back'?"

"Something like that." Helen agreed, deliberately not looking at Ashley

"So what you going to do about it?" Ashley asked, grateful that her own roses carried a simple and easy message compared to her mother's

"The only thing I can do." Helen said, "I'm going to give him, give us, a chance. He's already asked permission to court me."

"Court you?" Ashley was surprised at the choice of words and then realised she shouldn't be. Despite all the decades they had lived though her parents were still very much Victorians at heart.

True to his word John returned to the Sanctuary just under a week after he'd left. Knowing that the EM shield would undoubtedly be up, it did serve to protect the computers from hacking after all, he arrived just outside the main gate and used the numeric code Helen had provided to let himself in. He crossed the drive and climbed the steps to the front door but it was opened before he could knock.

Helen greeted him with a smile, "I'm glad you're back."

"As am I." He told her as he stepped inside and removed his coat.

Helen took it from him and hung it on the coat rack. "What's in the bag?" She asked

"A few personal items, you did after all say that I could have a place here."

"That I did." Helen agreed, "And you do."

"Where is everyone?" John asked as he followed Helen through the Sanctuary.

"They organised some sort of games night, I didn't ask much past that but I may join them later, I find my presence helps to keep the peace when people start loosing."

"I can imagine." John said with a smile, Helen as always been the peace keeper amongst the Five as well as the leader but none of the men had wanted to admit that.

"Would you care for some tea?" Helen asked as they reached her office, John accepted and they both settled at opposite ends of her sofa with the tea tray on the table beside them. "Where did you go John?" Helen asked after taking the first sip of her tea, "Declan said that you visited James's grave and then some other places in London." The name 'White Chapel' hung unsaid in the air. "Henry also said that you asked for the location of Nigel's grave."

"It seemed wrong that I had never been and I wanted to visit James's resting places as myself, without that thing inside me. I went to White Chapel because that was were everything started. It is all so different now but I can still see it as it once was, when that demon drove me to such hideous acts that I would prefer to forget them completely." She shook his head remembering what he had seen there, people went on tours of the places he had killed, it was sick that they could turn such heinous crimes into a recreational activity.

He had his arm along the back of the sofa and Helen reached out to lay a comforting hand on his. He turned his hand over and captured hers, giving it a soft squeeze before he continued. "I went to Oxford as well, the library where we first met, the gardens where we'd walk after our lectures." He grinned, "The pond we threw Tesla in."

"Those were the very best of days." Helen said with a fond grin. Their time at Oxford had been wonderful, full of discoveries and excitement, the darkness had only come once they had graduated. She could truly call her time at Oxford, the first time, one of the best times of her life. Certainly the best time of the first century of it.

"Yes they were, I believe that I spent an entire day just walking the grounds of Oxford, remembering what we once had. Though I don't miss the academic dress, those robes were not comfortable."

Helen giggled at that none of the men in the Five had liked the academic dress, though privatively she had thought they all looked remarkably good in it, especially John. It wasn't until she had attended Oxford as a full student several years later that she had understood just what all the complaining was about.

"After I visited there." John continued as he finished his tea, "I went to a few other places around the world, places I had lived, places I had done things I do not wish to speak of. Then I returned here."

"I was happy to see you on the security monitors, I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow at the earliest. And thank you for the roses." She glanced over at her desk where the bouquet he had sent to her was arranged in a crystal vase, still healthy looking and in full bloom. "Ashley liked hers as well, she has them in her room.

Mention of his daughter reminded John of something. "Where is Ashley?" He asked, "I have something for her, I meant to give it back a while ago but it slipped my mind." With the demon growing steadily stronger quite a few things had done the same.

"Probably in the media room with the others." Helen said as she stood and gestured for John to follow her, she knew that he would want to see Ashley immediately. It didn't take them long to reach the media room but they heard it long before then.

"Good God! What is that racket?" John asked, resisting the temptation to drop the bag he carried and cover his ears.

"Sounds like 'Wuthering Heights'" Helen said after a moment. "Been done very badly by, I think, Will."

"Or some one skinning a still living cat." John suggested as they continued towards the noise, which became louder the closer they got.

Helen laughed, "Possibly, but to be fair to Will it is a bad song to begin with."

They reached the TV room just as the song was, thankfully, ending. It was indeed Will who stood in front of the TV holding the microphone while Henry, Ashley and Kate laughed. "William if you ever do that again I will see that you get an express trip to some place very remote so no one else must suffer."

Everyone looked over at the door, Will rather sheepishly, Ashley launched herself off the sofa and hugged him, "When did you get back?"

"About fifteen minutes ago, I had tea with your mother and then we came to find you, only to hear what sounded like someone torturing a cat. I have something for you." He added as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out a silver rectangular pendent on a matching chain. Ashley's eyes widened and her hand immediately went to her neck where she had once worn it, in fact before the Cabal had taken her John had rarely seen her without it.

"Where did you find it?" She asked.

"While I was taking care of the Cabal, there was a woman with short brown hair, I think she was a doctor. She had it, she was wearing it!" That had infuriated John for more than anything else at the time and had insured her a painful demise, lucky for her he hadn't know exactly what she had done to Ashley or her death would have been as painful as Whitcomb's. "I ordered her to take it off, afterwards I forgot about it until just a few days ago. May I?"

He gestured to her and Ashley nodded, turning around and holding her hair out of the way so that he could fasten the chain back around her neck. "Back where it belongs."

Ashley turned back around and touch the pendent where it now rested against her pale skin, "Thanks."

"Henry." Helen said, drawing attention away from the father and daughter who both had suspiciously damp eyes, "I didn't think Singstar had Wuithering Heights."

Henry at least had the decency to look embarrassed, "It didn't, but Tosh and I were working on a program of hers to turn any song into a karaoke track, we finished by email earlier today."

"So one of the first songs you decided to convert was one of the worst songs of the seventies, and that is saying something."

"Blame Kate, she dared Will."

"I didn't think he'd actually do it." Kate insisted and Helen just shook her head, it seemed that no matter what age they were the younger members of her staff still behaved like children when given half the chance.

"Are you staying?" Will asked.

"Perhaps for a while." Helen agreed and out of the corner of her eye she saw John nodded. "But I am not singing and there will be no more Kate Bush." Everyone could agree to that and John and Helen sat together on one of the sofas while the rest made complete fools of themselves. Helen had to conclude that Ashley didn't have an ounce of subtlety in her body when she and Henry did a duet of 'Broken', a song that could have been written about her and John. Still it was a fun way to spend and evening as both Helen and John looked forward to many more like it.#

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AN: So that's the end of that story, I won't be going much past this point until season three is finished and I know what will fit where and how into my little AU, however there are a few one shots and shorter stories, most of which are solely Sanctuary but one is a crossover, again with Torchwood, does anyone want to read these? Let me know and I'll se about posting them.


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